What honestly makes some people think that America is the world flag bearer of moral righteousness? Why do they choose to ignore this country's history of discrimination and lack of social or economic progress which has continued since the post WWII era this author seems so fond of? We can be proud of the accomplishments of this country without living under the delusion that the rest of the world depends on us for democracy or needs us as some sort of international police state. 

I have to assume this is either due to a bad historical education or overzealous nationalism. There is no reason why in this day and age people are still using this City on a Hill-esque nonsense that once was used to justify taking over the land of the Native Americans and now is used to justify a potential attack against Syria or Iran.