“Exceptionalism Redux” by Mark Jacobs (Paraguay)
by Mark Jacobs (Paraguay 1978–80) Evergreen Review Sue McNally – Maroon Bells, CO (2014) O, let America be America again — The land that never has been yet — And yet must be — the land where every man is free. — Langston Hughes from “Let America Be America Again” In 1990, in the run-up to the first Gulf War, I did a long string of media interviews. I was working as embassy spokesman in Tegucigalpa, and interest in hearing the US case for intervention in Iraq was high. The State Department was regularly sending out updated talking points by cable to be used by people like me. I memorized those points, made them my own in Spanish, then went to the newspapers, the radio, and TV stations ready to be grilled. I was aware, of course, of anti-intervention sentiment in the US and did not dismiss the . . .
Read More
Mark's essay rings true, for both its positive and negative reflections on what is right and wrong about our country…