Belief in American exceptionalism is declining, the Pew Research Center concludes in a new report:
About half of Americans (49%) and Germans (47%) agree with the statement, “Our people are not perfect, but our culture is superior to others;” 44% in Spain share this view. In Britain and France, only about a third or fewer (32% and 27%, respectively) think their culture is better than others.
While opinions about cultural superiority have remained relatively stable over the years in the four Western European countries surveyed, Americans are now far less likely to say that their culture is better than others; six-in-ten Americans held this belief in 2002 and 55% did so in 2007.
One reason is the spread of college education:
In the four Western European countries and in the U.S., those who did not graduate from college are more likely than those who did to agree that their culture is superior, even if their people are not perfect. For example, Germans with less education are twice as likely as those with a college degree to believe their culture is superior (50% vs. 25%); double-digit differences are also present in France (20 percentage points), Spain (18 points) and Britain (11 points), while a less pronounced gap is evident in the U.S. (9 points).
Read more here. (Hat tip: Washington Post.)
Yup, that pesky education fad again. Can't wait until we get a genuine uneducated president in there so Americans can get their jingoistic groove back.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOh yeah, wouldn't want to think America is great or anything....that's just narrow minded, right? What we really need as president is some obnoxious half-wit Harvard lawyer who thinks America isn't any better than Greece...wait, we already have that...and he's made us into Greece.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGeorge W Bush--he of unrestrained, unnecessary deficit spending--didn't go to Harvard and isn't a lawyer, although he is a half-wit who likely couldn't find Greece on a map.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"George W Bush--he of unrestrained, unnecessary deficit spending"
As opposed to Barrack H. Obama -- he of the quadrupling of said unrestrained, unnecessary deficit spending.
Self-awareness and irony are obviously not the left's strongest suits.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOh, I would love to see some facts to show that it was Mr. Obama (and, apparently, Mr. Obama alone) who has increased deficit spending.
Facts. Got any?
The number one reason that deficit spending is higher is the extension of the Bush tax cuts.
Are you giving Mr. Obama credit for that?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI can tell from your various posts that this is likely pointless, but . . .
Obama is routinely spending a trillion dollars more per year than Bush's most obscene budget.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTax cuts do not affect spending. They affect how much money you have to spend. Blaming tax cuts for the deficit, is like blaming the fact you didn't get a raise or bonus at work, for not being able to pay for that brand new loaded Bentley you bought. Only idiots think, or let themselves be convinced, that you not getting the bonus or raise, is the problem there. Sane people realize that is slight of hand and immediately point out the problem is S-P-E-N-D-I-N-G more than you have. If I have to live within my means so should government. And no, the fact that there is never enough money to keep handing out “free stuff” to the members of the nanny state, is not a justification for government raising taxes whenever they feel they should spend more.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYou are partially right: spending is done by congress.
Since 2007 spending has been out of control. Since then it has blown through more than $5 trillion dollars, growing the nanny state and funneling money to democrat friends, lobbyists, agencies, agendas, and campaign coffers – the biggest example being that Reinvestment act referred to as the stimulus patronage bill - and that deficit spending is on pace to double in the next 10 years, unless government spending is drastically reduced.
BTW which party has held the reigns of congress since the 2006 elections? It’s the same bunch that after purposefully failing to produce a budget in 2010, because it feared the backlash at the polls, continues to use their control of the Senate to block any effort to get that done. The same one that had a speaker that got preferred IPOs and other such sweetheart deals while claiming to be there to “clean out the swamp”. Three guesses, and the first two don’t count.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseUmm, You might want to check your facts. He isn;t a lawyer but he did go to Harvard for his MBA,
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Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseShould have added that I mostly agree with you comment about unrestrained spending.
I tend to blame Congress for that since the system post 1974 makes it hard for the President to reign in spending. But Bush was partially responsible.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseUm....Bush went to Harvard Business School - see what all that Ivy League education is worth? And, Bush won't need to find Greece on a map any more - it's right here thanks to your President Hopey Changey.
If this is the best argument you have for the disaster that is the Obama presidency, you guys are in trouble.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseKlubkleb says George W. Bush "didn't go to Harvard"----Well actually he did go to Harvard and got an MBA.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNo, he's a Yalie an a Harvard MBA, and the quip about "unrestrained, unnecessary deficit spending" made me laugh out of my chair. Bush was a penny-pinching housewife next to Obama.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYou are showing your ignorance. George W Bush attended Yale. Last time I looked that was still considered an Ivy League School.
Stop drinking the MSM kool-aide. Liberal Dem propaganda is not fact.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseEr, Bush did attend Harvard. He got his MBA there.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseRemind me why it's important for Americans to believe we're better than everyone else?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTo paint liberals as America haters, of course.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBecause if we don't believe we're better we won't hold ourselves to a higher standard.
Also, because if we don't recognize what makes us great we won't continue those things that make us great.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'd be blaming college mis-education.
All week NRO has been running installments of an interview with Paul Rahe about the origins and make-up of the American republic. How many college grads these days ever heard the story told in that way?
And how might they interpret current events if they had been exposed to these insights?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis is why I have no problem with Coach McQueary. He reacted the exact why he's been taught: we're all equal. Everything wrong is actually right. Only blacks and hispanics go to prison and death row. White privilege is why affirmative action is still needed.
Having beliefs is not believed in anymore. Including the belief in your own country.
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