George Washington was America’s first president, of course. When I was a kid, I heard a story about George Washington and the cherry tree, you probably heard the same thing, that George Washington apparently chopped down a cherry tree and when he was asked about it by his father, or somebody, “George, did you chop down this cherry tree?” he said, “I cannot tell a lie; I did chop down this cherry tree.” Later, when we were older, we learned that that story was itself a lie. It was a legend, a myth, told to little kids so that they’d think that their first president wouldn’t have lied. Maybe the implication was that when the leaders of Russia were kids, they would have lied; the leaders of China, when they were kids, they would have lied, but America’s first president would not have lied. It’s called American exceptionalism - the idea that America is better than every place else.
Ronald Reagan was shot thirty years ago this past week. At the time we were told that, when Reagan went into the operating room, he looked at the doctors and said, “Well, I hope you’re all Republicans.” Now maybe I’m a cynic, but at that time I thought, “Now that’s not true. He didn’t say that. That did not happen. That’s just his media handlers putting that story out.” But I didn’t have any proof of that until this past week. On the thirtieth anniversary of his shooting, they interviewed the doctor who was in charge. Now Reagan was shot in the chest. He was spitting up blood. The doctor in charge of the hospital said that when Reagan entered the emergency room, he collapsed. He was out. By the time they rolled him into the operating room, he would have been so full of drugs he wouldn’t have said, “Well, I hope you’re all Republicans.” I don’t believe that happened. I think that was a myth. Now maybe it was a myth for our benefit so that we’d think that Reagan was well and alert and his avuncular self. Maybe it was for the Russians or the Chinese saying, “Hey, don’t mess with us.” I mean, Reagan gets shot in the chest and he’s still joking. It’s called American exceptionalism – the idea that America is better than every place else.
Jason Bourne is a fictional character created by Robert Ludlum in his Bourne books, which were made into movies. Matt Damon starred as Jason Bourne. I’ve seen a couple of them. Very entertaining movies. Jason Bourne, probably the American equivalent of James Bond. Jason Bourne – James Bond. If you’re not familiar with the story, Jason Bourne is part of some secret agency in the U.S. government, not the CIA, some even more secret agency, and he’s sent out, as are others in the agency, to assassinate people. Well, he goes out to assassinate a world leader and as he’s about to shoot him, he notices the guy’s child there. He kind of wigs out. It turns out that Jason Bourne has been brainwashed. All of the people who’ve been sent out as assassins have been brainwashed. I got to thinking about this later. Now wait a minute. The implication, of course, is that when a Russian kid comes out of the womb they’re ready to kill and assassinate people. When a Chinese kid comes out of the womb they’re ready to kill and assassinate people. But American children, when they come out of the womb, they’re are all loving and peaceful. They have to be brainwashed in order to assassinate somebody. Just like I’m sure the people who tortured prisoners down in Guantanamo Bay had to be brainwashed in order to do water boarding. It’s called American exceptionalism – the idea that America is better than any place else.
England is a country I’ve traveled to a few times. The first time I went to England, many years ago, I saw the currency in England, which, as you know, is different colors for different denominations and it’s got a picture of the queen on there. I thought: this looks like Monopoly money. Real money is green, of course, and it has pictures of the president or statesmen on it. It’s American money. Of course, I was engaging in American exceptionalism – our money is better than any place else. But when you think about it, having different colors for different denominations is probably a good idea so you don’t confuse a ten and a twenty. Maybe America could learn something from another country. People who suffer from American exceptionalism tend not to see that. They can’t see that maybe another country has a better idea than we do, because, when you suffer from American exceptionalism, you have blinders on. You can’t see reality sometimes.
9-11, the worst terrorist attack in American history, on American soil. It was horrendous, of course, it was barbaric, it was brutal, it was a demonstration of man’s inhumanity toward man. We all can see that. We all know that. One of America’s responses to 9-11 was the invasion of Iraq. We were told that there were weapons of mass destruction. We know that’s not true. We look at that now and we see the invasion of Iraq, which killed tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of innocent Iraqis, was barbaric, was a demonstration of man’s inhumanity toward man. But people who suffer from American exceptionalism can’t see that. They have blinders on. If America did it, it can’t be wrong. The problem with American exceptionalism is we sometimes can’t see reality.
Michael Moore had a TV show on several years ago called TV nation. It was a wonderful program. I remember one episode, he wondered, if you had a broken ankle, where would you get better health care: in America, in Canada, or in Cuba? Turns out, if you had a broken ankle, the best health care you’d get was in Cuba. The second best place was Canada. America came in third, according to Michael Moore. Now you might say, “Come on Bill, this is Michael Moore; he hates America.” [Laughter] Okay. I looked it up. Where does America rank in terms of health care with all 190 countries in the world? America isn’t first; it’s not second; and it’s not third. America comes in 37th place. Now people who suffer from American exceptionalism probably can’t accept that. They’d say, “We have the best health care,” and I would say we do, but you have to finish that sentence. “We have the best health care…money can buy.” People who suffer from American exceptionalism can’t always accept that. American exceptionalism causes us to sometimes not be able to see clearly.
In elementary school, we weren’t taught American exceptionalism. It was just in the air. We just picked up the fact that, of course, America was the best place in the world. We weren’t told that, but it was implied in everything. In Sunday School, I wasn’t told that my religion was the best religion in the world, but it was in the air. It was just assumed or presumed. I wasn’t taught about Buddha or Gandhi or Lao Tzu. I only heard about Jesus. American exceptionalism and religious exceptionalism oftentimes go hand in hand.
Head of State was a movie several years ago starring Chris Rock. I think I and about three other people saw it, so if you didn’t see it, that’s OK. But I thought it was a wonderful movie. Chris Rock plays a Washington, D.C. councilman, who through one fluke and another runs for president as a Democrat. He’s the Democratic nominee. The Republican nominee for president is the sitting vice president and whenever the Republican nominee gives a speech, he says at the end of it, “God bless America – and no place else!” and I thought, “That’s what a lot of presidents mean when they say that.” God bless America – and no place else! Then Chris Rock comes along and says, “Why not God bless America and everyplace else! Why not God bless America and God bless South Africa and God bless Canada and God bless Mexico?” American exceptionalism and religious exceptionalism often go hand in hand.
“This is My Song.” When I first heard that song at Fountain Street Church in Grand Rapids, it was like scales fell from my eyes. I think it’s the Finnish national anthem or something. It says, “This is my song, O God of all the nations, a song of peace for lands afar and mine.” It talks about people here having hopes and dreams, but also about people elsewhere having hopes and dreams. What? This is my song, O God of all the nations? You mean God isn’t just the God of America? You mean people in other countries have hopes and dreams? (I mean, besides the dream of becoming the 51st state?) How can this be? American exceptionalism and religious exceptionalism often go hand in hand.
A pastor friend and I had lunch the other day and he was decrying all these buildings that you see with rich people’s names on them. He said, “Don’t these people realize that 100 years from now or 1000 years from now those buildings will all be dust. Their names will all be in the dust.” He said that all of us, each one of us is written in the Book of Life. I said, “Yes, and they’re all written in the same font size.” He said, “That’ll preach, Bill!” [Laughter] We are all equal. I take exception to religious exceptionalism because we are all equal.
Charles Grodin had a talk show on MSNBC a few years ago. It was very interesting. One night he had a psychic on, who claimed to be able to contact people on the other side, people who are in heaven. He took phone calls from people who wanted to contact their dead relatives. He had a caller on the line who wanted to contact his dad. So the psychic said, “I’m connecting with your dad and he says he loves you; there’s nothing that divides you; one day he’s looking forward to when you’re both in heaven together.” The caller said, “Well, that’s fine, but is there anything special about my dad? Do you notice anything different?” The psychic said, “No, he just wants you to know he loves you; there’s nothing that divides you, and one day you’ll be together in heaven.” But the caller was persistent. He said, “Are you sure there’s nothing different about my dad? There’s nothing special in any way?” The psychic said, “No, he just wants you to know he loves you; there’s nothing that divides you, and one day you’ll both be together in heaven.” Well then it was revealed that on the line was Patrick Wayne, John Wayne’s son. So the psychic was demonstrated to be a fraud. Obviously if he had contacted John Wayne, he’d know that it was John Wayne because he was…John Wayne! Charles Grodin knew the guy was a hoax, Patrick Wayne knew the guy was a hoax, the audience knew the guy was a hoax, I knew the guy was a hoax. But later I got to thinking, wait a minute. Maybe in heaven John Wayne isn’t somebody special. Maybe he’s just like everybody else. Maybe in heaven John Wayne doesn’t have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Maybe in heaven John Wayne doesn’t have an airport named after him. Maybe he’s just John Wayne in heaven, no better and no worse than anyone else. I take exception to religious exceptionalism because I think we’re all equal.
In the Christian New Testament there’s a verse that deals with both these issues, American exceptionalism and religious exceptionalism. The verse says, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one.” There’s no longer Jew or Greek, there’s no longer Christian and Jew and Buddhist and Hindu and Muslim or anyone else. We’re all one. I take exception to religious exceptionalism because we’re all one. We’re all equal. We’re all the same. And that’s okay. There is no longer Jew or Greek. There’s no longer American and Mexican and Russian and Chinese and Iranian. I take exception to American exceptionalism because we’re all one. We’re all equal. We’re all the same. And that’s okay, too.
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