# 20210131

-   a nation is an inherently exclusive phenomena and defines itself in opposition to what it is
    -   what counts as American in the US is often defined by what it is not. black people were not properly American until relatively recently, for example
-   A socialist nation is therefore a contradiction
-   most nations in Europe are younger than the US
    -   although “France” or “Germany” pre-date the existence of the US, their governments and nationalisms do not
-   it’s hard to blame the Russian or German social democrats for participating in the state when both countries were autocracies where even nominal representation in government was a novelty
-   A lot of US leftists believe in what amounts to an inverted American exceptionalism