[tptacek]

This is a peeve of mine as well, but in the other direction: the American right is motivated by appeals to American exceptionalism, and should be hitting everyone over the head with how exceptional our citizenship law is. We have universal birthright citizenship! It's in the Constitution! That is an amazing thing that we should all be proud of.

(I acknowledge as well that the American left is motivated by appeals to transcending our history of racism, and agree with your implication that American antiracism is itself exceptional among nations of our global stature. You're right, we focus almost entirely on the negative, in the mistaken belief that only negative appeals will persuade.)

[rayiner]

Agreed.