November 28, 2014 1:19 PM

Stanford: We are the world

From the Left: Quorum Report’s liberal columnist Jason Stanford argues that Americans shouldn't pick and choose when to be global citizens

If there is a geo-political equivalent of white privilege, it’s got to be American exceptionalism. It’s not that we don’t think the rules apply to us. It’s that we think we’re playing a completely different game and that the rules are for “the world” and have nada to do with our Empire-that-shall-not-be-named. Cosseted by the most polite people on the north and buffeted by our supply of drugs and cheap labor to the south, we think the world can be divided into US and them.

We are so married this unspoken idea that the United States can deal with the world as if the world is some separate entity that it took a president to point out our interconnectedness. It’s more than exporting jobs or importing electronics and cars. Americans still think in terms of “exporting” and “importing” when religion, disease, and money think our borders are charming relics.

We think we can engage periodically in the world, choosing not to address the Ebola crisis in Africa and then act completely bumfuzzled when someone imports the infection to Texas. And then we demand that all direct flights be ceased immediately from “Ebola countries” without betraying the slightest awareness either that there were no direct flights or that we now have become an Ebola country.

We arm the Afghan rebels to beat the Soviets and then leave, only to see the Taliban fill the vacuum and provide safe haven for a disaffected scion for Al Qaeda, except we didn’t see because we were disengaged.

The complete column from Jason Stanford can be found by clicking on the R&D Department.

By Jason Stanford