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Why do some Americans need to continually reassure themselves that America is “exceptional” in the grab bag of nations? At some point fawning self-promotion turns to inferiority complex in my view. I don’t care if we’re talking Trump or Clinton, most are unwilling to push the truly radical changes this nation needs in order to emerge from decades of mindless and costly schemes of narrow-minded selfish growth created in the whirling free market economocracy we call America.
In the first of what may be many portraits of 2016 candidates, I had to start with the one fellow GOP hucksters seem to believe has one of the best chances to hoodwink the middle class into voting for.
If recent speeches are any indication, we’re in for some fun this election cycle.  
NCNP “rising star” Senator Marco Rubio, shiny as a new dime and about as sincere as the Flim Flam Man, certainly didn’t disappoint when he announced his candidacy back in June and during the recent GOP mega-debate, tossing out hilarious one-liners with a dead pan look Jack Benny would have been proud of.
True to NCNP talking points the usual culprit in the American malaise as expressed by The Young Marco is oppressive government and “the job killing laws we pass” and the many government programs that “claim to help the middle class but often end up hurting them instead.”
The Young Marco mentioned the “government” 22 times during his coming out parties. And the middle class? Well, now that the NCNP has noticed that the demographics of the electorate have changed they’ve now become the protector, nay, the godfather, of the middle class.
By the way, The Young Marco mentioned the middle class 16 times. So for all you folks in the middle class let it be known that the NCNP has your back.
Oh, don’t think the Senator from Florida didn’t forget to tell the gullible hordes about American Exceptionalism. As we know in the NCNP history books, “most people were trapped in stagnant societies, where a tiny minority always stayed on top, and no one else even had a chance.”
Now wait a minute. I’m a bit confused here. Is he talking about the Gilded Age, the days of the Robber Barons or is he talking about America in 2015 where one percent of the population controls 90 percent of the wealth?
And did he bother to ask native cultures who were here first or those who were enslaved and helped foster the industrial age about the notion of American exceptionalism?
What the heck is he talking about?
“But America is exceptional because we believe (apparently no other culture ever has) that every life, at every stage, is precious, and that everyone everywhere has a God-given right to go as far as their talents and hard work will take them.”
And by the way, God has also blessed America with abundant coal, oil and natural gas so instead of wasting our taxpayer dollars on pie-in-the-sky clean energy companies let’s open up more federal lands for “safe” and “responsible” exploration.
“And let’s reform (remove apparently) our energy regulations so that they’re reasonable and based on common sense”… because if we can grow THAT energy industry it will make us energy independent, create middle class jobs (middle class jobs usage #13) and it will help bring manufacturing jobs back from places like China.
Just like that. Drill, baby drill and the jobs come back! Why haven’t we thought of that one before? Cripes, let’s get at it.
The one possible inference to climate change may have been the part where he said government (government usage #14) can’t control the weather. But government (government usage #3) is reckless because a major cause of the economic downturn was caused by reckless government policies. You see, it wasn’t financial shenanigans such as the collapse of derivative markets and hedge funds and the House of Cards that is Wall Street, it was reckless government policies!     
The Young Marco isn’t just a U.S. Senator, he’s an economist as well. He says to make it to the middle class (middle class usage #2) you don’t rely on Washington, you rely on the vibrant free economy (the same one that brought us to the precipice again) where you can risk your own money (not the bank’s) to open a business and when you succeed you’ll hire more people, who in turn invest or spend the money they make (in a consumer-based frenzy) helping others start a business and create jobs.
Such altruism from the NCNP.
Old Adam Smith would be spinning in his grave if he saw his economic theory so distorted by such greed throughout the centuries.
The Young Marco finished by asking that hope for a better life will bring us back together again, “to solve the challenges of our time and write the next amazing story of the greatest nation man has ever known.”
I’ll finish with my own observation.
I’m a happy American, glad to be here.
Why does a certain segment of the population need to keep telling themselves that we’re so exceptional, boasting that God has graced us and elevated us to the top of the food chain?
Seems to me like a serious inferiority complex is at work.