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The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers! From Nixon to Sarah Palin
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The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers!
From Nixon to Sarah Palin
What’s happened to the Republican Party? What’s happened to populism? Read Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair on the life and death of Nixonland, and the class politics of the war over Sarah Palin. ALSO in our new subscriber-only CounterPunch newsletter, read Serge Halimi on how Russia gave Georgia and the U.S.a well-deserved black eye. PLUS Carrie Dann’s wonderful first-hand account of the fight of the Western Shoshone to reclaim their land. Get your copy today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and gear make great presents.
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Today's Stories September 13 / 14, 2008 Robert Fantina September 12, 2008 Nikolas Kozloff Michael Hudson Lloyd Miller Steve Breyman Maria Rivera Jonathan Cook Ayesha Ijaz Khan M. Shahid Alam Robert Weissman Tanya Golash-Boza / David Brunsma Website of the Day
September 11, 2008 Noam Chomsky Sharon Smith Ron Jacobs Marjorie Cohn Mike Whitney Jeffery R. Webber Paul Cantor Peter Morici Ray McGovern Linn Washington, Jr. Website of the Day September 10, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Conn Hallinan Ralph Nader Peter Morici Joanne Mariner Laura Tate Kagel / Chuck Spinney Dave Lindorff Scott Campbell Paul Farmer Anne Kilkenny Website of the Day September 9, 2008 Michael Colby Chellis Glendinning Vijay Prashad Jeffery R. Webber/ David Michael Green Brian J. Foley John Ross Pierre M. Sprey / Nicole Colson Marc Gardner William S. Lind Website of the Day
September 8, 2008 Mike Whitney Tariq Ali Pam Martens Bill Quigley Malini Johar Schueller / Robert Jensen Uri Avnery Win McCormack Howard Lisnoff Maria C. Khoury Website of the Day September 6 / 7, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Linn Washington, Jr. Patrick Cockburn Gary Leupp Nancy Kurshan William Blum Michael Winship Fred Gardner Nikolas Kozloff Wajahat Ali Robert Fantina Karyn Strickler David Yearsley Richard Rhames James L. Secor Missy Beattie Eric Patton Ben Terrall Thom Rutledge Dan Bacher David Macaray Jane Stillwater Grady Harper Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend September 5, 2008 Elizabeth Walters Bill Quigley Alan Farago Dave Lindorff Ira Glunts Peter Morici Deepak Tripathi Manuel Garcia, Jr. Michael Donnelly Martha Rosenberg Website of the Day September 4, 2008 Jeffrey St. Clair Paul Craig Roberts Ron Jacobs M. Junaid Levesque-Alam Andy Worthington Osama Dawoud Stephen Lendman Fidel Castro Website of the Day September 3, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Sen. Mike Gravel Vijay Prashad Nikolas Kozloff Ralph Nader Howard Lisnoff Steve Early / Cal Winslow Shepherd Bliss Bill Quigley Website of the Day
September 2, 2008 Marjorie Cohn Jonathan Cook Robert Weitzel Corey D. B. Walker John Ross Eric Walberg Judith Scherr Richard Morse B. R. Gowani Michael Greenberg Website of the Day September 1, 2008 Nikolas Kozloff C. G. Estabrook Manuel Garcia, Jr. David Macaray B. R. Gowani Saul Landau Charles Orloski Gloria La Riva Website of the Day August 30 / 31, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Bill Quigley Jeffrey St. Clair Andy Worthington Deepak Tripathi Stanley Howard Dave Lindorff Wajahat Ali Robert Fantina Josh Schlossberg Benjamin Dangl Missy Beattie Howard Lisnoff Suzan Mazur Rev. Jim Rigby David Yearsely Serge Quadruppani B.R. Gowani Richard Rhames Poets' Basement Website of the Day
August 29, 2008 Mike Whitney Brian Cloughley David Ker Thomson Joanne Mariner Neve Gordon Chris Genovali Ron Jacobs Michael Donnelly August 28, 2008 Judy Gumbo Albert Paul Cantor Saul Landau / Andy Worthington Ben Terrall Leonard Peltier Niranjan Ramakrishnan Donna J. Volatile Website of the Day
August 27, 2008 Anthony DiMaggio Jordan Flaherty Ralph Nader Melissa Checker Bob Sommer Cynthia McKinney Ali Khan M. Junaid Levesque-Alam Dave Lindorff David Macaray Website of the Day
August 26, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Michael D. Yates Paul Craig Roberts Andy Worthington Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Huwaida Arraf Joseph Grosso Sheldon Richman Binoy Kampmark Website of the Day August 25, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Bill Quigley Jonathan Cook James McEnteer Uri Avnery Will Potter Robert Jensen Stephen Lendman Wajahat Ali Carl Finamore Website of the Day August 23 / 4, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Patty O'Grady Nicole Colson Steve Conn Deepak Trapathi Robert Fantina Jonathan M. Feldman Joshua Frank Osama Qashoo Howard Lisnoff David Michael Green Dave Lindorff Christopher Brauchli Alan Farago Michael Winship Richard Rhames David Rosen Patrick B. Barr Jamie Newlin Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend August 22, 2008 Boris Kagarlitsky Laura Carlsen Bob Barr Marwan Bishara Peter Morici Manuel Garcia, Jr. Charles Mostoller Sumbul Ali-Karamali Keith Rosenthal John F. Miglio Website of the Day August 21, 2008 Allan J. Lichtman Dave Lindorff Loserville: How Obama Blew It Ralph Nader Joanne Mariner Wajahat Ali Ron Jacobs Rostam Purzal Anthony Papa Website of the Day August 20, 2008 Michael Neumann Ray McGovern Eric Walberg Fidaa Abed Daniel Haack Mike Whitney Website of the Day August 19, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Deepak Tripathi Marwan Bishara Saul Landau William S. Lind Martha Rosenberg James Brittain Pratyush Chandra David Macaray Website of the Day |
Weekend Edition American Exceptionalism in the Post-9/11 WorldThe Flight Not Taken By NIRANJAN RAMAKRISHNAN
The notion of exceptionalism has long been part of the American psyche, but it has been given vulgar expression only in recent decades, after self-absorption in full public gaze became not merely acceptable but expected. Only someone steeped in specialness would have declared, as did Vice President George HW Bush after America had shot down an Iranian civilian aircraft by mistake, "I will never apologize for the United States of America. I don't care what the facts are". The same sense permeated Madeline Albright when she said that America was the one 'indispensable' nation. Leaders from Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton to Barack Obama have echoed this sentiment with varying degrees of grating. Of John McCain, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, little needs to be said save that they are the Knights Templar of this Order -- who else could have stood before the cameras and told Russia that invading other countries is not the way to settle disputes in the 21st century? And the obvious question that the press should have asked? Well may you ask. If self-criticism is a dying art in American politics, reticence has long exited the news business. "The Best Political Team in Television", Wolf Blitzer keeps repeating every few minutes. Maybe so, Wolf, one wants to tell him, but isn't that something for others to say? The national mourning for Tim Russert broke all bounds of modesty: clearly old dictums of the journalist not becoming the news did not operate in America -- here the press too was Exceptional. Funnily enough, America was always viewed as exceptional by the world, long before the invidious boasts by its politicians on TV -- it is rare that a show goes by without someone saying, "We have the best fighting force in the history of mankind", or "American workers can out-produce anyone in the world", or "The greatest country on the face of the earth". As to the world, perhaps it is best to echo a character from the Jeffersons, "What can anyone say about you, Mr. Jefferson, that you ain't said about yourself already?" America's exceptional quality, to paraphrase Indira Gandhi, was that "she did ordinary things extraordinarily well". Disasters happen, of course, even in the best of times, and under the greatest of leaders. But breakdowns are seldom caused by one great blunder. Instead, they are more often the result of a bad environment, an ethos where many small wrongs go unchecked. Enough has been written about the fateful day when so many things could have prevented, or at least limited, the damage. But the real damage began when 9-11 ended. Where any other country would have sought to demand accountability for such a calamity, in our exceptional land, not one single head rolled. The normal process of instituting an inquiry was postponed, we had to fight to get a commission established: Exceptionalism at work again. In the most iconic example of Exceptionalism of all, it has become customary to mark each anniversary of September 11 by noting how valiant President Bush and his colleagues have been in keeping the country safe ever since. The logic reminds me of a joke sent around by a friend: statistics show that 10% of all accidents are caused by drunk drivers, it follows therefore that driving sober causes 90% of all accidents. This sense of hubris – Exceptionalism, if you will – has informed everything that has followed: a potential multi-trillion dollar war cost, billions in deficits of every variety, broker borders, a collapsing health care system and the shredding of the one thing that is truly exceptional about America – its Constitution. All unchallenged because the exceptional nation accepts exceptional unaccountability. Where do we go from here? There is some encouraging news. While the slobbering sultans of self-absorption were neck-deep in lipstick-land yesterday, there was a meeting of the four small party candidates, brought together by Ron Paul. They have agreed on a common four-point program, mainly to restore Constitutional rule. They should sink their other differences and run a united campaign. Talking of self-absorption, this writer is gratified that Ron Paul, who brought the four together, followed this plea offered in a column a few months back (see Restoration Boulevard): "I have a suggestion: Ron Paul and Ralph Nader should unite to put together a platform with an single-point agenda: to restore the Constitution and the Rule of Law. All else can follow." Niranjan Ramakrishnan is a writer living on the West Coast. He can be reached at njn_2003@yahoo.com.
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