Hitler’s doctrine of Aryan supremacy taught Germans that they were a superior race and, as such, were free to write their own rules. German economists manipulated trade and finance relationships to harness the economies of others to theirs. Violating the Treaty of Versailles, they remilitarized the Rhineland. The Anschluss in Austria and the fall of Czechoslovakia followed, then World War II and the “Final Solution,” the liquidation of people considered undesirable. To fulfill Hitler’s dream, the Germans surrendered their common sense and were rewarded with misery.

Our version of the Hitler myth is the idea of American exceptionalism. Our free-market ideologies dominate the economies of client states putting them in service to international commerce instead of caring for their citizenry. We needn’t cooperate with others and can launch pre-emptive wars. Our exceptionalism helps us rationalize our self-indulgent lifestyles while millions of the world’s people sink further into misery and hopelessness.

I am mortified when I hear my fellow citizens crow “USA, USA” at Olympic games and Tea Party gatherings. Hearing them reminds me of Germans shouting “Sieg Heil” at German solidarity ceremonies. We can hang our with our myth of exceptionalism and play with our toys or take up man’s work, the establishment of social and economic justice at home and abroad. Will we sit at the conference table with representatives of other nations or eat our freedom fries in the pantry?

John E. Gibson

Blooming Prairie