Counterparts. We will talk to the author in just a minute. In our first 45 minutes this morning we are interested in the thought of american exceptionalism. Here is how you can weigh in this morning. 20258 reach outou want to on social media, not only can you post yourself on facebook this morning, that you can take part of a pole that asks the same question. Journal cspan. Org is how you reach us an email. Pedal peter buying heart, from the atlantic, joins us. His book is entitled the end of the american his article is entitled the end of american exceptionalism. Where did you get the idea for this title . Caller i was looking through polling data from Young Americans and what struck me was how different the attitudes were from stereotypes about what makes americans different from someeans and how, in really striking ways, the attitudes of Young Americans are much closer to the attitudes of europeans than those we consider stereotypically american. Host you set it up to define what you mean by exceptionalism. Is that part of it . Can you expand . To say that america is exceptional does not just mean that it is different from other countries. Every country is different from other countries. The idea is that america is the exception to a rule. Historically the rule has always been defined by europe. There was this idea that there was an established way of thinking or running a country. Thinking about the designs that were established in europe. The United States, it was an exception to that. In todays world, people tend to think about american exceptionalism in terms of religiosity and our special mission in the world and in terms of our belief in our upward mobility and lack of cost lack of class consciousness. And all three of these ways the attitudes of Young Americans are much less exceptional than we think. Parts,ake the last two our role in the world, what has been the general thought . Especially to the older ones who share those ideals . And what is the thought amongst millennials, as they are called . There is a strong sense amongst Older Americans, certainly not all, that the United States has a special mission in the world to spread , whatever exactly that means. And that also this special role gives us special privileges. The privilege of not having to essentially take orders from other countries and be able to follow our own will when it comes to things like needing approval from the United Nations for military action. What is striking about the attitudes of millennials is that millennials really reject the idea that america has a special mission in the world. They have a much more minimalist idea of what america should be doing. But they also deny the idea that america should be able to act on its own prerogative. It is more typical for or. Lder americans beyond that, they are more likely to deny the idea that American Culture is superior. These are some of the statistics i found most striking while doing research. Older americans are substantially more likely than europeans to say that our culture is superior, but Young Americans are actually less likely to say that. That is shapedof now that we are 10 years after 9 11 . A lot of it is a reaction to the iraqi war in general. One interesting thing is that Young Americans were the demographic most supportive of the iraq war originally, but they are the group whose support for the war plummeted most are medically. Disillusioninga experience because it came in their formative, youthful years than it was for Older Americans. A lot of these attitudes are a response to the kind of attitude about americas role in the world that you saw. You could even see this in the kind of hyper patriotism of the Bush Administration. You could also see that in cultural figures, like jon stewart and stephen cole bear, we spend a lot of time kind of mocking the aggressive, inyour face patriotism that was characteristic of the bush era. Is thenother category ability to move upward, upward mobility. Talk about that. Right. Historically, one of the Things Considered to make america exceptional is this idea that white americans, historically, were out religion of their birth as much as europeans. That they could rise above their station based on talent and hard work. We have known for a while now that this is no longer the case in the United States today. That by many measures, the United States has less upward mobility than many states in europe. What i would argue makes millennials different is they no longer believe in the myth of american upward mobility. You find that Older Americans still believe in the myth of Horatio Alger in larger numbers, where younger americans are much less likely to believe that. Much less likely to say that the rich people got there because of hard work and talent and are more likely to say that because that they got there because they were born into privilege. Part of the corollary of this is a greater degree of class consciousness. The stereotype is that all americans think of themselves as middleclass. Actually, a lot of Young Americans now referred themselves as lower class, referring to themselves as have nots. This is an attitude historically associated with europe. Clash cap class consciousness, the belief in Rising Economic economy, but we are now seeing much more amongst younger americans. , if theser beinart attitudes continue, what does it mean for the United States and its future . Caller in the essay i argue that it is not a bad thing that younger americans are rebelling against some of these myths, because those myths have not been working out for them in practice. What good is it to claim that america is a country with exceptional upward mobility when, in fact, it is not anymore . Perhaps changing the American Economic system to make upward mobility possible again means being more clear eyed about the reality of where we are. , the response to the idea of americas Exceptional Mission in the world is the response to the very painful disaster of American Foreign policies that have led us to these terrible wars in iraq and afghanistan. Being more suspicious of the myths that lead us into those two wars may actually be that beginning of a path to a wiser Foreign Policy. Host Peter Beinart teaches at the City University of new york. You can find his work on american exceptionalism on the website for the national ,ournal here go Peter Beinart journal. Oh journal. Peter beinart, thank you for your time. Caller thank you. Our topic this morning, is america exceptional . You can tell us on one of the three lines available. Host if you go to our Facebook Page, not only facebook. Com c span, but not only can you make your thoughts known there, you can participate in a poll this morning of people weighing in. So far saying that america exceptional, 47 . 34 saying that america is not. Tim, good morning, what do you think . Caller i think that america is exceptional. In the case of michigan, only in michigan can they take a surplus, again, a 1 billion surplus and give it away to the richest people in michigan if they own property instead of fixing our roads with it or giving money back to education. It is an outrage. I just heard it on the news today and i knew it was coming, they are pulling an angler. Thank you. Mike joins us from cary, north carolina, republican line. Hello. I do believe that america is exceptional, still exceptional, but whether we retain that, i do not know. I am familiar somewhat with the work of Peter Beinart. I think that his view comes from the left side of the political spectrum. I listen to him, it is very shortsighted and forecast and focused very much on the last 10 years and the Foreign Policy of bush, iraqi, and afghanistan. Not saying that they were perfect. They were flawed. A lot of americas history is flawed. But when you go all the way back ,o the founding of the country our constitution, the only country in the world that enshrines the rights of the individual in an effort to restrain our government, what we have accomplished in terms of technology, inventions, inventors, the fact that we have sent our youth to die on foreign battlefields not for toonialism or empire, but spread freedom. Mostly in world war i and world war ii. We can debate vietnam and other lesser wars in the last half of the century. None of them were perfect. But all in all, if you take america from beginning to end, or from beginning to now, yes, america is exceptional. You can still succeed here. We have done what no other country in the world has done before. That is my opinion. Thank you. Theseyou may agree with opinions, you may not, you may have another take on them. Call in host theodore haskins, from twitter, says host you can make those thoughts on twitter known. Facebook, as well, two. Republican line, port city joe, florida. Yes, americas exceptional because over 250 years ago 50 men calmly sat down to draft a form of government dedicated to securing our natural rights. 1913, the government of the United States did that, secured our natural rights. In that time we went from a backward agricultural collection of 13 petty states into a first class world powerhouse. People busted down doors to get into this country. To experience freedom, and such. We have forgotten that. I am amazed that your guest, the author from the atlantic, could drone on and on about this, that, and the other, and never come down to the fundamental point that our country was founded not from the people rising up and demanding rights from a king or a desperate, it was founded by men, as i said, sitting down and calmly putting together a government that secured our rights. Until we get back to that, our nation, our public is doomed. Host also facebook, Richard Smith says Carter Clemons says a couple of thoughts this morning from facebook. Back to the phones, chicago, illinois. Caller is this me . Host is this bruce . Caller it is. Host you are on. Go ahead. Does this gentleman think that western europe has more opportunity than this country . I get so sick and tired of people complaining, complaining, complaining. If we could just get the government out of our lives, stop demonizing people that moved the country ahead, the people that pay the taxes, the people that pay the bills of the country, all of a sudden you are demonized and saying you are not doing your fair share. To whereo get back people that pay taxes are more revered than demonized. Host what would you say makes america exceptional . There is opportunity galore in this country and it gets crushed by the government. They just will not let people they keep complaining, they want to take away from people who are achievers. You cannot take away from people who are achievers and have a mission and give it to someone else and expect the thing to survive. Host a hearing on capitol hill about Army Recruiters and bonuses paid to those who would sign up for duty. Are probingrs allegations that hundreds of National Guard recruiters and others tied to the military abused and Enlistment Program at the height of the iraqi war. Next, oklahoma, independent line. We are asking about if america is exceptional. Caller yes, it used to be. Good morning, pedro. Excellent, good morning. I am a proud austrian american. I bring that outside european perspective. My military has been raise the. Amily here the United States used to be exceptional. What the older generation has to understand is that they can no longer live in the past, know they rehash the past. All that you can do is learn from it. Throughl, they went world war two. Austrians are very proud. They stand very proudly. What is it about americas past that makes it exceptional . Caller oh, my god, where do i start . First of all, they tried in the overextended. Peter did not explain it well. They release it really started during the cheney Bush Administration. They went completely overboard. Patriotism is not flying a flag, it is what you do and how you act in your country. You do not go and dictate to other countries. You do not do that. Host pete is next, texas, independent line. Hello, pedro. America was exceptional in terms of their resources and rooms for expansion and all of that after they took over from the native americans. Now makes it unexceptional is that it is part of the globalization, income inequality, and greed. In any other place in the world, the one percent can exploit the majority, the 99 , for their profit. So, that is my opinion this morning, pedro. Is pete, from texas. We have a story about janet yellen being sworn in as the first female chairman. The meeting will take place on the 18th, she is scheduled to hold a News Conference before that. She will appear before Congress Next week to deliver the feds twice for year report on its handling of the economic outlook. Sworn in yesterday, she is being sworn in by her husband, a nobel prizewinning economist. The story from the washington times, noted what happened to , benrevious fed chairman bernanke, reporting that the Brookings Institution announced he would join as a distinguished resident. John, rancho rio, new mexico. Hello. Caller good morning, pedro. Rio rancho. Host sorry. Caller oligarchy, basically. I think we are an exceptional nation. Tohave the infrastructure become an exceptional producer of growth again. The problem that we have is that we have no capital. All of the capital has taken off to the Cayman Islands and other sorts of places by these by these people who claim to be super patriotic for america. The wealth gap is very real. If you look at wages, they are stagnant over the last 25 years. There is a gap between the rich and the poor and the almost nonexistent middleclass. You see the trickle down theory not working. You give the one percent the reins, they take what they can, they justify the fact that they cannot hire workers, they make all sorts of justification that our allies. Way, what is the best moving forward, to change the idea of making america exceptional . Caller we need to recognize that human nature is a greedy animal. Bill gates gave a billion dollars to charity last year, theenerally speaking articles of confederation, the federalist papers, the Founding Fathers knew this. Humans were desperate by nature. From twitter, art says us andou may be joining missed our interview at the top of the program with Peter Beinart. Of the atlantic. He wrote a piece for the national journal, talking about the end of national exceptionalism. We are asking people this morning to comment on the idea of americas exceptionalism. You can give your thoughts on the phone line and on facebook as well. Aten also tweet us http twitter. Com cspanwj. Wyatt, good morning. Caller thank you for having me. I am part of the young libertarian movement. As a whole, i think our country is exceptional because of where we began. We began starting at the bottom and we built up. The constitution does not really cover everything. Lets be honest, here. But as we continue to go up i think we will realize the fundamental of our programs and we will cut off what does that work until we get to the right amount of government. Other countries that started at the top and work to down will have bigger problems figuring out what is messed up and what is not. Davis, pennsylvania. Bill, republican line. Caller you are one of my favorite hosts. I wanted to say that america was exceptional at one time, but we are losing it. We have really started to lost it. Time,s because at one something that work for everyone. Our economy and government work for everyone, with the exception of slavery, which eventually ended. America at one time followed a judeochristian ethic. We also had the value of hard work. Today we are sorted into a secular materialism. People have become lazy. People have become poorer people doecause many not inform themselves properly on the affairs of water going on. Thank you very much. Host several developments, looking at the investigation regarding the closing of the George Washington bridge in new york. Joining us to talk about the latest, Michael Simons, of the asbury park press. He has written a book, chris inside story to his rise to power. Thank you for joining us. Can you talk to us about the events concerning the investigation . Caller there are two investigations. One of them is being done by the legislature. Subpoenas ande 20 the first subpoenas began being delivered yesterday. They were subpoenas for documents and not testimony at this time. And then there is the separate investigation being done by the u. S. Attorneys office in new jersey. They have also issued subpoenas. Governor christie was doing his monthly radio show last night and acknowledge that the ther or his office Governors Office received subpoenas. Host as brought to light by your by her paper, some people resigned come resigned, some people pled the fifth. Can you elaborate . Caller two of the people provided with subpoenas have told the legislature that they will not provide the documents in question. One of them used to be the deputy chief of staff in governor christies office. He also managed the campaign in 2009. The second person then succeeded him as deputy chief of staff when he left to go