Boberic: “Through the Marshall Plan we Liberated Europe rebuilt it and remade European democracies, And returned Japan and the rest of the Pacific to it's people and democratized them as well.”

Nagy: The Marshall Plan liberated Europe? That is news to me. Liberated Europe from whom or what? You seem to understand everything only through a sort of Fourth of July patriotism. There was nothing altruistic about the Marshall Plan. Its political purpose was to prevent Europeans from being seduced by internal communist subversion in order to keep the beneficiaries in the American orbit. This was for the general economic benefit of American companies, which was also served rather directly by the rules requiring Marshall Plan allotments to be spent on American providers.

You indulge in too much self congratulation over the US not directly running the governments of the conquered people, probably because like many conquerors, you do not understand the economics of direct rule. It is easier to rule through puppets, clients, and highly supervised governments. The US dictated much of the Japanese constitution, which hardly sounds like either popular sovereignty or democracy to me.

Boberic: “Britian ows it's soveranty to the US as well. If not for the US Europe 's national language would sstill be German.”

Nagy: Both of these statements are inconsistent with facts. Hitler’s Operation Sea Lion failed in 1940, long before the US was directly involved in the war. The second statement is a matter of speculation, so it is less demonstrably false. However, it is extremely unlikely that a Nazi empire would have survived Hitler. The Soviet Union, which is much larger than Germany, and capable of mustering far more manpower as well as industrial power, could maintain its own satellite empire for less than fifty years, and did not during that time wipe out local languages. How could a less stable German Empire accomplish that?

Boberic: “OH I forgot much of western Russia owes it's existance to the US as well. Thats Exceptional.”

Nagy: I have not read a single serious historian who agrees with you. The general consensus is that Lend-Lease enabled the Soviet Union to driveGerman troops all the way through Eastern Europe back into Germany, but that the Russians had the man and firepower to repulse the attack on their own land without any help.

Boberic: “There are many cemetarys filled with American dead Throughout europe who gave their lives so that europe could be free. That's exceptional. How many European cemetarys with their deaad so that we are free NONE thats exceptional.”

Nagy: American assistance did indeed help keep the French free of German or Soviet control, although that was not the intent. Our involvement in both wars was to prevent the rise of a powerful rival. As to freedom, that in Western Europe was balanced by the lack of freedom in Eastern Europe, which was made possible by the continued flow of Lend/Lease supplies for months after the Surrender of the Reich. This enabled the Soviets to consolidate their grip on the satellite empire, something they could not have done without the half million Studebaker trucks that replaced the horse and buggy Soviet logistical system.

Boberic: “Plaes donn't give me the crap that the French helped us out during the revolutionary war. The only reason why the French fougt in the revolution is to keep the british out.”

Nagy: This is a delicious double standard. You give the US credit for altruistic results it attained via selfish means, but flatly deny the same privilege to the French.

Boberic: “The french actually fought agianst the US previously. Ever hear of the French and Indian War.”

Nagy: Judging from your body of work as well as the way you write, and that of Gnslngr, there is no doubt that he has heard of the French and Indian War, but you need to read a bit more about it. It played out from 1756 to 1763, when there was no US.

Boberic: “At the end of WW2 themany of the German WW2 prisoners held in US prison camps in the US were treated so well that they decided to stay in the US and were accepted with generosity. That Exceptional.”

Nagy: Great point. However, American exceptionalism does not mean the US never did anything right, or very well. It means that instead of granting it certain status through common measures, it is declared superior by definition.

Boberic: “The US has Given mor relief to other countries when didasters occuir THatrs exceeptional.”

This is a false statement. Neither as a percentage of public or private charitable contributions does the US rank among the top ten countries in the world.

Boberic: “Yes we have made mistakes along the way that should not have happened and for the most part we have aknoledged them. So any time That anyone denies American Exceptionalism they should remember these and many more reasons wht The US is an Exceptional Nation. Any time that anyone of our citizens denies our exceptionalism he is perfecly free to leave
THATS EXCEPTIONAL Please my spelling errors. It's just that I get so pi$$ed off about this subject”

Nagy: Interesting. You refuted not a single reason why the article referenced by Gnslngr showed we are less than average in so many ways, but grasped mostly at glorified versions of our inglorious foreign policy in an attempt to show how exceptional we are. Then, you indirectly blamed Gnslngr for you shocking spelling errors; if he had not pissed you off so much, you would have written Pulitzer Prize-worthy material.