Monday Matters 10

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/19/opinion/blow-decline-of-american-exceptionalism.html?ref=charlesmblow

I choose to follow the New York Time’s OP-ED columnist, Charles M. Blow. This particular column was entitled “Decline of American Exceptionalism” and was about how U.S. citizens have developed a pessimistic attitude about the status of America in comparison to other countries. He stresses that we once believed this country was superior while we now no longer have faith in the United States being a leading world power. He notes how the young people of the United States are growing up to not have faith in their country. He believes this nation wise pessimism is faltering away from what once was a great country and that this negativity is dangerous, and must be put to an immediate end. In order to communicate his point, he uses a few rhetorical strategies. The article starts off with historical allusions, “Are we, indeed, the “shining city upon a hill” that Ronald Reagan described? Are we “chosen by God and commissioned by history to be a model to the world” as George W. Bush said?” Using these allusions helps him to start the article off by hopefully re lighting past emotions of strong unity and nationalism as a country. Remembering the positive times adds a contrast to the current negative situation he believes us to be in, and greater allows his readers to want to evoke change.  He also raises the question of how God plays into American Exceptionalism, “Was our nation’s greatness about having God or having grit? Is exceptionalism an anointing or an ethos?” He goes on to say that if ethos and grit are the answers, then we need to recapture them. This is an appeal to logic, because many people now a days believes in separation of church and state. So by appealing to “ethos” and “grit” he is more prone to uniting people who read this article. He is very clear on his position that we need to change, and that the only way to is through very hard work and decision making. He uses many statistics to support his point such as only 49 percent of the United States believes their culture is superior to others.He also makes many calls to action, “And that means that we must invest in our future. We must invest in our crumbling infrastructure. We must invest in the industries of the future. We must invest in a generation of foundering and forgotten children. We must invest in education.” This makes him more credible because he isn’t just complaining, but proposing solutions to what he believes are major concerns for this country. And he ends the essay again with the historical reference he started off with, “That’s how a city shines upon a hill”, once again bringing the reader back to a feeling of hope that America can shine as a major world power.