Wherever you turn for news these days you are confronted with the most polarized political views we've had in this country in four generations. It's as if no one - no one reads the early documents associated with our nation's founding. In times past school children memorized and wrote essays that included such pertinent phrases as "We the people etc. . . ." and "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, etc. Actual examples of essay topics in some schools include interesting, but trendy titles such as "Nice planet. Don't blow it," "Government Serves People - Corporations Serve Profits" and everyone's favorite theme for reflection, "Live locally, think globally." It's time to recall that old 1630s Puritan preacher, John Winthrop and renew our acquaintance with the cluster of conclusions he made about establishing a new and enduring country.

The chasm between the opinions of the left and the right these days is not necessarily a bad thing for a democracy. However, there's something disturbing about the tone of the debates we're hearing these days. Two-hundred and twenty years ago the issue that divided us and nearly derailed the fragile republic was whether the federal government would assume the war debts incurred by the various states. That struggle nearly derailed our country before we were a decade old. Then nullification, sectionalism and slavery became insurmountable obstacles for the Union. Even the collapse of the economy in 1929 did not shake our determination as much as has the convergence of global financial panic and the rising belief that the United States is less capable than anytime since the 1940s of shaping world affairs. To this end, media pundits of the left invoke 19th century Alexis de Tocqueville's phrase of "American exceptionalism" to justify their argument explaining the cause of our demise. Pundits of "the right" use the phrase as a mandate for American assertiveness in global matters.

"American Exceptionalism" is a term coined by Tocqueville, the French jurist and political theorist, who travelled through America in the 1830s making observations about the new-style republic and the "new man" that inhabited it. Tocqueville was so intrigued by what he saw in our republic that he extended his time to visit different parts of the country. He made numerous observations about the new classless social order where "no one cared who your grandfather was," or whether you made your fortune from selling hogs, importing tea from China or planting hundreds of acres of cotton. The stirring words "We the people . . . " writ large by Jefferson across the Declaration of Independence intrigued Tocqueville; the Frenchman's ancestors had to straddle both sides of the French Revolution just to survive the guillotine.

Today, "American Exceptionalism" is code for conservatives such as Palin, Bachmann, Santorum, Perry and Ron Paul who believe that America has received a special dispensation from God to be what Puritan preacher John Winthrop called "a city upon a hill" - a shining beacon of hope to the world - a place where liberty and justice would produce an everlasting republic of virtue. Politicians ranging from Kennedy to Reagan to Gary Bauer have echoed Winthrop's phrase. Winthrop got the phrase from scripture - Matthew 5:14: Christ says, "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden." Psalm 48 contains the phrase, too, so we do not know the identity of the earliest user since King David did not write that particular one.

The implication by Winthrop is that our country is a land chosen by Providence for the purpose of upholding all that is good and just. American Exceptionalism is an idea that polarizes a room instantly. Fundamentalists adhere to its God and country refrains just as John Winthrop espoused in 1630. Liberals and most world leaders are infuriated that people in this country see themselves as God's chosen ones to shape world culture. Republican primary debates have excited everyone to get into the heated discussion. Some proponents believe that "American Exceptionalism" is a modern extension of the 19th century idea of Manifest Destiny. That popular slogan served as a cover for numerous politically-inspired acts that increased the geographical size of the country.

Recently Stanley Fish of the New York Times devoted a column to the idea, and Rick Amato, the conservative radio talk show host, avowed that he - Amato - was an American Exceptionalist. Professor Erik Jones of the London School of Economics (LSE) published an article in a British journal accusing America of possessing an "Exceptionalist" attitude in its dealings with Europe. He specifically criticized recently retired Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, for possessing the disdainful "American Exceptionalist" ideology when Gates lectured Europe on its need to shoulder more of its own defense and anti-terror responsibility. Perhaps LSE Professor Jones has modified his opinion in light of America's role in resolving Europe's colossal bank and currency crisis.

Winthrop was of the gentry class in the 17th century. His family were the perennial lords of the manor in Groton, a village in County Suffolk. Compelled by the religious tyranny of absolutist-minded Charles I, the Puritan John Winthrop and his family helped finance a fleet of like-minded Puritans known as the Winthrop Fleet to flee England for the New World in 1630. Winthrop was superbly educated in both law and theology, and he penned the famed "City Upon A Hill" proclamation while still aboard the ship Arabella somewhere off Narragansett Bay.

John Winthrop lived just 60 miles from the home of another prominent Puritan, Oliver Cromwell. At the time that Winthrop and his followers departed England for America, Cromwell was in the throes of his decision about whether to join the Winthrop Fleet, or not. Imagine the consequences for both sides of the Atlantic if Cromwell had not chosen to remain in Parliament and see his ideals through.

Winthrop's contribution to our nation's great collection of documents is just 563 words in length - 40 words fewer than Jefferson and Madison's Bill of Rights document. Being the ardent Calvinist, Winthrop begins proclamation with a quote from the Old Testament book of Micah, Chapter 6, verse 8: "to doe Justly, to love mercy, to walke humbly with our God." Winthrop's entire opening sentence "Now the onely way to avoyde this shipwracke and to provide for our posterity is to followe the Counsell of Micah, to doe Justly, to love mercy, to walke humbly with our God," has probably not enjoyed the attention of secondary students in more than 100 years. That they were passengers escaping religious persecution in England and were miserable from their storm-tossed voyage - not to mention apprehensive about their undertaking of founding a new city in a far-flung wilderness - is an understatement.

John Winthrop was one of the guiding lights of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and a founding father of the city of Boston - named for the quaint village of the same name on the English Channel which served as a departure point for the Puritans of Suffolk.

Paraphrased in modern English the refrains of Winthrop are: "To do justly - to love mercy - to walk humbly with God - to knit together as one and have brotherly affection. To use our surplus to help others in need - to conduct trade in all fairness and to joy in one another. To be our brother's keeper - to share each other's burdens - to always hold true to these convictions we establish here. To be united in peaceableness - asking the Lord to dwell among us and make us his people - to seek God's wisdom and by so doing we will be faithful servants of God, and therefore, unbeatable by evil forces. We shall pray and praise the Lord. People from afar shall say, 'Make us like New England.' We shall be like a City Upon A Hill - the eyes of all people will be upon us. And if we deal falsely with our God and cause Him to withdraw His presence from us, we shall be made a byword, an example, throughout the world. We shall see the mouths of our enemies speak evil of our God - we shall lose the manifold blessings that God has bestowed upon us."

Winthrop closes with this final call to action as the settlers prepare to disembark for shore: "Therefore lett us choose life, that wee, and our Seede, may live; by obeyeing his voyce, and cleaveing to him, for hee is our life, and our prosperity."

Our duty compels us to ponder why we have outgrown the need to discuss such things openly in our much troubled society today.

(Dr. Thomas B. Horton is a history teacher at Porter-Gaud School. He lives in the Old Village of Mount Pleasant. See more columns online at www.moultrienews.com.)