Feb. 15, 2017 - Rubin Report - Dave Rubin
05:59
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unidentified
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[theme music] | |
| It may sound strange, but as a liberal, I really do believe in American exceptionalism. | ||
| Due to our democratic ideals and personal freedoms, America is a unique and special country in the world. | ||
| You may remember back in 2009 when President Obama said he didn't really believe in American exceptionalism, saying quote, I believe in American exceptionalism just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism. | ||
| In and of itself, there's nothing wrong with Obama's general idea here in which each individual country is filled with proud people who believe that their country is unique and special in the world. | ||
| Actually, if this idea fuels people to build a better society that they can be genuinely proud of, then fantastic. | ||
| Of course, by the same token, this nationalism could also push otherwise good people to believe that they should have inordinate sway over the world or influence other nations because they're morally superior. | ||
| Over the eight years of Obama's presidency, he walked back this statement and did actually say that America's exceptionalism was unique. | ||
| For me, there's an additional reason for American exceptionalism which goes beyond just our democratic ideals and our personal freedoms. | ||
| Obviously, we aren't the only country in the world to share in those ideas. | ||
| It's also the additional piece that America is a country of immigrants, a country of people from all over the world who came here to make a better life for themselves. | ||
| We are a nation built by people whose ancestors often came here with nothing and who worked hard to build a better country and life for their children and their children's children. | ||
| While we certainly aren't the only country to welcome immigrants or to build a solid middle class, there's no other nation on earth that more people from more countries have come to live and prosper because of the pursuit of happiness. | ||
| This doesn't mean that everyone can come here and we can have open borders, but it does mean that if you come here legally, you'll be given the same chance as a natural born citizen. | ||
| Even today, as we live in a politically fractured society, and many people will tell you that things have never been worse, the truth is that things have never been better. | ||
| Of course, I don't mean that for every specific person, or every specific job, or every specific industry. | ||
| Times change, and so do people and economies. | ||
| But as a whole, America has done an incredible job of welcoming so many diverse people, having us all share in the American Dream while at the same time All being able to keep traditions and practices from our unique cultures. | ||
| As our economy changes over the next few years, we the people have a massive job of changing along with it. | ||
| In an age where supermarkets will be automated and driverless cars will replace truck drivers, it will be more important than ever for us to change along with the technology. | ||
| The world doesn't stop for anyone or owe you anything. | ||
| You have to adapt to a changing world. | ||
| And in these moments of change, that's usually where America has been at its best. | ||
| Our system, built on the idea that it's your job to pursue your happiness, is the reason that more people still want to come to America right now than any other country on Earth. | ||
| I always find it ironic that so many people who rant and rave about how evil America is are the same people who demand that we let anyone in here. | ||
| Why would anyone want to come to such an evil, unfair and oppressive society? | ||
| Of course this is nonsense, and these people know it. | ||
| There's a reason that people don't leave America in droves. | ||
| Even the celebrities who said they would leave if Trump was elected have somehow managed to stay here. | ||
| For the record, I'm pretty sure that Canada is happy that they didn't have to take in most of those people. | ||
| I mention all this because for all the goodness here in America, we obviously still have some work to do. | ||
| Every society has work to do, which is why people peddling utopia are always frauds and liars. | ||
| In America though, almost every generation has fought to expand rights to other people, not to limit them. | ||
| That's how we got women the right to vote, that's how we freed the slaves, that's how gay people were allowed to marry, and that's how whatever will come next will arrive. | ||
| As for that work that we have to do, I think a lot of it has to do with how we can come together instead of just ripping each other apart. | ||
| I'm a firm believer that most of us want the same things in life. | ||
| We want to work a decent job, eat some good food, have some sex, and go on vacation now and again. | ||
| Most of us aren't racist, homophobes, secretly plotting against each other and trying to push our way of life on everyone else. | ||
| This is somewhere which, no matter where your political leanings are, we can all come together. | ||
| Yes, some of us are from big cities, some of us are from small towns, some of us had ancestors who arrived on the Mayflower, and some of us just arrived yesterday. | ||
| But the only way this all works is if we all bend to fit the American ideals of freedom and of liberty, not if we demand that the system bend to us. | ||
| My guest this week is comedian Trey Crowder. | ||
| Trey is known as the liberal redneck. | ||
| His comedy is a blend of showing liberal elites that rednecks aren't all backwards hicks and showing rednecks that liberals aren't all evil socialists. | ||
| It's almost as if we should judge people as individuals, not as groups. | ||
| You know, the middle of this country for a long time has been the brunt of jokes and the easy way to make fun of anyone who thinks differently than the people in New York or Los Angeles. | ||
| As someone who has only lived in New York or Los Angeles, I've never subscribed to this way of thinking and I've tried not to mock people just because they talk differently or haven't evolved on some social views the second that I have. | ||
| Whether you're Democrat or Republican, straight or gay, black or white, Native American or new immigrant, this country belongs to all of us and it needs all of us to continue to make it better. | ||
| That's the thing with exceptionalism. |
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