February 11, 2011

House GOPer: America Now a “Second-Class State”

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The concept of American exceptionalism is gospel in the Republican Party. Republicans in Washington consistently proclaim the US the “greatest nation in the world.” Late last month, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) ripped President Barack Obama for failing to mention American exceptionalism in his recent State of the Union address. The president, Boehner vented, “refused to talk about American exceptionalism. We are different than the rest of the world…[Democrats] reject that notion.”

At least one freshman House Republican apparently missed the American exceptionalism memo. At a meet-and-greet here on the second day of CPAC, Rep. Richard Nugent (R-Fla.) veered wildly off the GOP script, referring to the US as “a second-class state.” Nugent was one of nearly a dozen freshman congressmen who showed up at the event, where attendees downed mimosas and glad-handed with the GOP’s new members as well as Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Tex.), who introduced each of the members. The freshmen each gave a brief statement, and while Nugent’s hit on the usual themes—paying off our debt, reducing the deficit, embracing free enterprise—the “second-class state” remark was a bit startling, and met with silence.

Here’s what Nugent’s said:

Washington has gone tone deaf in the last administration. They didn’t listen to any of us…

I was comfortable in retirement. The reason I ran is because I currently have three sons serving this great nation. What I saw in their future is not an exceptional America. What’s happened in the last four years has drug this country down and put it into a second-class state.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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