TORONTO (Canada), September 25 – If the United States is to be trusted again as a reliable, constitutional democracy, it will have to find the collective courage to break through decades of denial and address an array of ugly truths about itself and the role it plays on the world stage, according a scathing new book by seasoned American journalist William Boardman.
Ed Shiller, publisher of Toronto-based Yorkland Publishing, calls Boardman’s newly published EXCEPTIONAL – American Exceptionalism Takes Its Toll “a radical act that exposes the self-deception and evasion induced by American exceptionalism. The book addresses unpalatable American realities in an effort to contribute to radical change before we’ve pitched too far into the abyss.”
In the introduction to EXCEPTIONAL, an anthology of Boardman’s recent political essays, the author writes:
American Exceptionalism permeates our culture. Most Americans were taught to believe in American superiority long before we were able to think for ourselves. “America is the greatest country in the world.” It’s an article of faith. It can’t be proved. Other countries didn’t vote us #1 in a free and fair election.
He then asks:
What is the measure of “greatness” for a country? Do genocide, slavery, racism, imperialism and endemic poverty count? If the United States is really the greatest country in the world, what does that say about the world?
Each essay, Boardman says, is
[A] snapshot in time, when I’m reacting to the moment, whether it’s an act of voter suppression, the start of an aggressive war, the police killing of another unarmed black person, or the failed humanity of so many of our “leaders.” Whatever the moment, it’s something I object to. I try to describe the ways it’s wrong and bad for people and bad for the country.
In the 740 pages that follow, Boardman documents:
- The erosion of voting rights.
- The criminalization of free speech. the rise of a police state, a Supreme Court that defends the interests of the rich and powerful with less and less integrity or shame, and other signs that the United States is “losing altitude.”
- The ill-treatment of immigrants and asylum seekers.
- Ongoing racism and physical attacks against Black Americans.
- War crimes perpetrated by current and past administrations.
- Policies dealing with climate change, nuclear weapons and nuclear power that put Americans and the rest of the world at cataclysmic risk.
- Some of the hundreds of impeachable offenses President Donald Trump has committed from the moment he took office on January 20, 2017.