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I believe in American exceptionalism but I happen to believe it is due to our Constitution and our Bill of Rights. Not the genetic superiority of the people.

There's an interesting subquestion to the issue. America was founded, and raised up, in large part by people who fled persecution for their beliefs. Many founders came here with next to nothing, all had to start from the dirt up, and some rose to substantial heights in education and earthly prosperity in a short time. The early arrivals had to rely on their own families, initiative, and wits to learn because there were no institutions in place. Many of our first arrivals and their descendants were achievers, self-motivated, often quite intelligent, and in general, filled with faith in God to help them. They knew the blessing of relying on Him. Their descendants kept pushing forward to build a strong educational system and other societal supports that rewarded diligence. From this crop came exceptional, diligent people and from that brain trust came our founding documents. We still have our fair share of lazies but I believe this nation stands in a place to be envied for the qualities mentioned above, particulary qualities of character and faith in so many of our founders.

Our forefathers were amazing and obviously blessed by Him. America is truly an admirable country but Americans, per se, have certainly lost their clout. My mother, an immigrant, says that my father parents were very decent hard working people and probably typical Americans of previous generations. Something happened with my father's generation that for some reason out of the 7 siblings they all turned out to be dysfunctional at worst and mediocre at best. My father being the exception of course. Although they received harsh parenting, they didn't seem to learn discipline or real faith.

My mothers family, from South America, are devout Catholics and all 12 of them are extraordinary individuals. They are well educated, have loving families, they are dedicated parents, and are good to a fault. My mother claims that the sexual revolution changed the great characteristics of Americans in this country, but there are still many great people.

I always argue this point with foreigners who think that all Americans are obese, sloppy, Jerry Springer type characters, who are completely ignorant of the rest of the world.

Obviously, they shouldn't simply judge everyone because they went to Disney World once on gay day, or stumbled across a Denny's in a bad neighborhood. In any case, those judgmental people are simply of the same school as those who judge immigrants so harshly.