Stephen Wertheim: America Was Never Exceptional But We Used to Think It Was

The Dig

Daniel Denvir

News, Politics

4.8 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 20 September 2017

⏱️ 62 minutes

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Summary

Trump is normal in more ways than people care to admit, but he is different in that he parts from the bedrock ideology of American exceptionalism that has governed this country from its violent founding. Foreign policy scholar @stephenwertheim (https://twitter.com/stephenwertheim) makes the case that the Trump Doctrine could reignite extreme nationalism and militarism but also provides the Left with an opening to finally launch a movement against American Empire. Thanks to University of California Press for their support. Check out their new title A Social Revolution: Politics and the Welfare State in Iran https://www.ucpress.edu/ebook.php?isbn=9780520965843 (Trump is normal than [in] more ways than people care to admit, but he is different in that he parts from the bedrock ideology of American exceptionalism that has governed this country from its violent founding. Foreign policy scholar @stephenwertheim makes the case that the Trump Doctrine could reignite extreme nationalism and militarism but also provides the left with an opening to finally launch a movement against American Empire. Thanks to University of California Press for their support. Check out their new title A Social Revolution: Politics and the Welfare State in Iran https://www.ucpress.edu/ebook.php?isbn=9780520965843 [there was a return before the )

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of The Dig is brought to you by our supporters on patreon.com and by University of
0:06.6	California Press, which publishes loads of titles of interest to dig listeners like you.
0:13.4	One that you might find interesting is Social Revolution, Politics and the Welfare State in Iran
0:20.4	by Kivan Harris.
0:23.2	Political observers have long characterized the Islamic Republic of Iran as an ideologically rigid
0:29.4	state with a narrow social base, teetering on the edge of collapse.
0:35.3	Harris convincingly demonstrates how they are wrong. Today, more Iranians are
0:40.3	connected to welfare and social policy institutions than to any other form of state organization.
0:47.0	In fact, much of Iran's current political turbulence is the result of the success of these
0:52.8	social welfare programs, which have created
0:55.7	newly educated and mobilized social classes advocating for change. Social Revolution,
1:02.4	politics in the welfare state in Iran, by Kivon Harris, out now from University of California
1:09.0	Press.
1:18.9	Thank you. Out now from University of California Press. Welcome to The Dig, a podcast from Jacobin magazine.
1:22.8	My name is Daniel Denver, and I'm broadcasting from Providence, Rhode Island.
1:27.4	America, we just don't win anymore.
1:29.9	It's almost like we're a third world country. ISIS is laughing at us. China is laughing at us.
1:36.6	Mexico is laughing at us. In fact, China invented global warming as some sort of trick to destroy our
1:43.0	economy, and Mexico outsmarted our feckless leaders by conspiratorily sending us all the criminals.
1:49.4	This, Donald Trump explained, is why he had to make America great again.
1:54.2	The implication being that America, at least for a little bit, was kind of shit before.
2:00.3	Just one nation, among many others, in a global battle for wealth and power that we have been losing.
	...

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