Romney and American exceptionalism

[Thats my opinion]

AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM (11/16)

Most of us take a dim view of those who have nothing positive to say about the United States, but plenty to say about what is wrong. Super patriotism may be tedious, but good solid, “I love America”—or wherever you happen to live—is both legitimate and socially rewarding.
Lives there a man with soul so dead
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land!”
(Sir Walter Scott—a 18-19th century Scottish poet)

Why should anyone want to live in a nation they despise? On the other hand, these days we are hearing a steady chorus of what has been called “American exceptionalism.” While that term left undefined allows for a variety of interpretations in the hands of politicians, it may evidence an alarming perspective.

Consider what Mitt Romney had to say in a recent Citadel speech. “America must lead the world…This century must be an American century…with the United States wielding the strongest military in the world.” He continued, “I believe we are an exceptional country, with a unique destiny and role in the world… This is America’s moment…I will never apologize for America.”

What, he suggests, has given us the imprimatur to rule the world? But here is where it gets frightening. To quote Mitt again, “God did not create this country to be a nation of followers. America must lead the world.” Thus we move from the divine right of Kings, to the divine right of the nation. I objected strenuously when a Baptist pastor opined that Mormonism was a cult. That statement had no place in the political arena. But when Mitt lays his own religious perspective out for the public to examine, it is fair game. So the question arises, does Romney’s religion include the affirmation that God established, through a lost tribe of Israel, a new nation that was divinely commission to rule the world? A careful reading of the book of Mormon indicates that this new American born revelation may suggest exactly that.

Whether Romney’s theological affirmation that God has ordained America military and economic exceptionalism comes from his Mormon faith, or is just a rhetorical flourish that every other Republican candidate might mouth, it is bad religion and bad politics. It makes God into an American patriot. History is replete with attempts to enlist God as a national icon, and a particular people as divinely mandated. When Hitler was coming to power, just after seizing the title” Chancellor,” he thundered, “Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Glaube.” (One people, one nation, one faith.) What was that faith? He went on to said, “The Christian faith will safeguard the life of the German people.”

In the United State there is rooted a profound distrust of religion when it is used as a political tool. The founders were clear that the United States was to be a secular nation, as opposed to those nations having a state religion. The wall of separation spelled out in the First Amendment mandates that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” When any politician tries to bring God in the back door as somehow an exclusive American patriot, that wall has been seriously breached.

Some weeks ago in this column I discussed “Reconstructionism” which is the notion that America should be ruled by Christian law. One wonders if what Romney, and probably others of both parties might imply, is really Reconstructionism lite. If in Romney’s mind that notion is an essential religious conviction, then his religion ought to be subject to public examination. If he just tossed in the line suggesting that God created America to rule the world because it would sound good to evangelicals, then we can just pass if off as so much political verbiage.

Religious ethics, or ethics from any other point of view, has a legitimate place in any political debate. But religious doctrine does not.