Mike Trahant

Mark Trahant is a writer, speaker and Twitter poet. He is a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and lives in Fort Hall, Idaho. Trahant’s new book, “The Last Great Battle of the Indian Wars,” is the story of Sen. Henry Jackson and Forrest Gerard.

Indian Country’s population is younger than the general U.S. population – a median age of 28 instead of 35.3 – and so every young worker becomes critical to older citizens, those who might one day want to retire. We can’t afford to lose young people any more

One of the philosophical debates in this election is about the notion of “American Exceptionalism.” This is the concept that America is uniquely qualified to lead the world because of our style of democracy, our commitment to capitalism and individual liberty. (If all this sounds familiar it’s because another version of the same song is called “Manifest Destiny.”)

How does this idea play out in 2010 politics? In the Florida Senate race, for example, Republican Marco Rubio told The Palm Beach Post, “We should not be embarrassed to say that America is not just unique, it’s quite frankly better than anything else that has ever existed in the history of mankind.”

So why is this an election issue now? One of the reasons there is so much anger directed toward President Obama – at least from the true conservatives – is that he challenged this very idea. Let’s be clear about this divide. Most Americans, even most in the Tea Party and others who are upset with the direction of this government and the country, don’t spend a lot of time thinking about American exceptionalism. Nonetheless this is the high-octane intellectual fuel that’s powering their movement.

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Tags: exceptionalism, indian country's population, mike trahant, Shoshone-Bannock