Fewer and fewer people are able to accept the idea that the US seeks to impose global rules while insisting on not being bound by them itself, but instead arguing for permanent exception from global rules, agreements and commitments (such as development aid, human rights,, international law, environmental protection of global commons such as air, water and natural resources). Double standards always amount to hypocrisy; an eroding social basis for those pushing for US exceptionalism could however result in significant political changes in the nearer future. Negri and Hardt (2) have noted that US exceptionalism "...is the basis of tyranny and makes impossible the realization of freedom, equality and democracy." These are precisely the ideals the US-regime proclaims to be defending.
To the degree that political change can be inspired by the refusal to tolerate exceptionalism in a world in want of global forms of democracy, the polls might really be reading the writing on the wall this time.
(1) The Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) studies public opinion on international issues. PIPA is a joint program of the Center on Policy Attitudes (COPA) and the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM), University of Maryland.
http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/WorldI...
(2) A. Negri and M. Hardt, Multitude, 2004, p.9
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