- Update 2/23/10 - Victor Davis Hanson offers additional thoughts on American exceptionalism.
- Update #2 - Jonah Goldberg calls attention to what he calls the "Cliffs Notes" on his book, Liberal Fascism, mentioned (and linked) below.
- (Original Post) - I agree with Goldberg when he says that the uniqueness of America versus Europe "is probably where the intellectual debate is going." It was the substance of his remarks on a CPAC panel last weekend [begin at the 4 minute video spot].
Goldberg says,
It's been percolating for a good long while, obviously. Charles Murray's fantastic Kristol Award speech and Jim Manzi's widely discussed America's edge essay were both recent harbingers of what's to come. I've always been deeply interested in the subject of American exceptionalism and the left's attempt to "Europeanize America." Some may recall that it's a major sub-theme of my book. [Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning]
Anyway, I bring this up because the best primer on the subject of American exceptionalism and conservatism can be found in the Rich and Ramesh's cover story of the latest issue. It's really just a great piece of work and very much worth reading for the arguments to come.
Me: I posted this primarily because of the links. I remember reading Charles Murray's speech when it was first published. It is full of unusual insight and needs to be bookmarked. It may be I'll need to bookmark the other readings as well.