America: Understanding American Exceptionalism (America, democracy in america, politics in america Book 1)

Do You Know What Made America Exceptional?

Do you want to know?

The United States dollar took another pounding on German, French, and British exchanges this morning, hitting the lowest point ever known in West Germany. It has declined there by 41% since 1971, and this Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous, and possibly the least-appreciated, people in all the earth. - Excerpt from Gordon Sinclair's The Americans, June 5th, 1973

When Gordon Sinclair spoke those words in 1973 he saw that America was going through a difficult time. Unappreciated and misunderstood abroad America was experiencing a crisis of confidence, not unlike what it is experiencing today. The difference though is that modern America is often unappreciated and misunderstood by its own citizens. As a Canadian this pisses me off.
If you're an American and you need a refresher course on what made America unique this book is for you. You will learn what it was, what made it great, and why your country is now flirting with decline. Here's what you'll learn:

• Why America is an exceptional nation
• Why America was the greatest "Bottom Up" society the world has ever seen
• How America's origins as the ultimate "Bottom Up" society allowed it to harness consequential knowledge (and why this is critical)
• The concept of Citizens vs. Subjects and why this was so important to early American success
• Why America is becoming a nation of subjects and what the consequences of this are likely to be
• The four big institutions in which a citizen must enjoy sovereignty in order to be happy
• Why America, when it is true to its origins, can be both large and nimble
• How America is being transformed from the ultimate bottom up citizen society into a top down nation of servile subjects

The world has developed because of the stability America established... If that stability is rocked, we are going to have a different situation."
- Lee Kwan Yew, former prime minister of Singapore

Decline is a choice. Britain was able to choose decline because a young and confident America was there to take over the reins of world leadership. What happens to the world if America chooses decline? Who will provide the world with leadership? Russia, China? It doesn't have to be this way. If more Americans understand the roots of what made their country exceptional a renaissance is possible. If not the future is dim indeed, not just for America, but the world as well.
The day will come when (in the United States) a multitude of people will choose a legislature. Is is possible to doubt what sort of legislature will be chosen? On the one side is a statesman preaching patience, respect for rights, strict observance of public faith. On the other is a demagogue ranting about the tyranny of capitalism and usurers and asking why anybody should be permitted to drink champagne and to ride in a carriage while thousands of honest people are in want of necessaries. Which of the candidates is likely to be preferred by the workman? When Society has entered on this downward progress, either civilization or liberty must perish. Either some Caesar or Napoleon will seize the reins of government with a strong hand, or your Republic will be as fearfully plundered and laid waste by barbarians in the twentieth century as the Roman Empire in the fifth; with this difference, that the Huns and vandals who ravaged the Roman Empire came from without, and that your Huns and vandals will have been engendered within your country, by your own institutions. - British historian Thomas Macaulay writing in 1857

Is Macaulay's vision correct? It doesn't have to be. Read this book to understand what made America great and how it can be made great again.