Thoughts on Ukraine, and Russia, from Anne Applebaum and Andrew Stuttaford.

I think that the usually sharp Anne misses the point here, though (as Obama did with his idiotic comment about Greeks thinking that Greece was exceptional), about American exceptionalism:

In the United States, we dislike the word “nationalism” and so, hypocritically, we call it other things: “American exceptionalism,” for example, or a “belief in American greatness.” We also argue about it as if it were something rational — Mitt Romney wrote a book that put forth the “case for American greatness” — rather than acknowledging that nationalism is fundamentally emotional. In truth, you can’t really make “the case” for nationalism; you can only inculcate it, teach it to children, cultivate it at public events. If you do so, nationalism can in turn inspire you so that you try to improve your country, to help it live up to the image you want it to have.

A thousand times, no. American exceptionalism isn’t (just) a different phrase for American nationalism. What is exceptional about America (unlike England, or Greece) is that it isn’t about birthright, or race, or location, but about ideas. American exceptionalism is the idea that anyone can be an American, if they accept the premises of America: individual liberty, limited government, and truly liberal values (something that the Left has never had — they simply appropriated the word). That is why it was perfectly appropriate for a committee looking into American communists to be called one about “un-American activities.” Because Marxism is fundamentally un-American. It may be good, it may be bad (obviously, people know what my opinion is on that score) but it is not American.