Really interesting read, and very deep. I got the impression that numbnut was full of jealousy over you and found that the multiple personal attacks made by him was disgraceful. IMO, he epitomizes today's "metrosexual" ~ a Lion on the Internet, and most likely (yes, I know about the assumption meaning) a sheep on the street. Basically, I don't believe this guy would have had the guts to take you on in person, debating your argument/beliefs.

I agree with Lionel's observation about your serving God with humbleness and the Dark Ages of Europe...sorry, but that was in place well before the Dark Ages.

Khalling, I don't like saying this, but we ARE living in a communist nation. Or, as Mark Levin puts it, in a post-Constitutional America. The only remnant of what was America is the pesky Second Amendment. Should that ever fully get revoked, the real killing & blood-letting will begin.

Overall, Overmanwarrior, I think you did a great job on fully explaining your position as well as the insightful observation of numbnut's missive's towards you. I have nothing of real substance to add since it has already been addressed sufficiently here.

I had to think about this post for awhile before I could comment. Two things struck me. One was that you and I would disagree on something and two, that Mr. Cowan in general agrees with many of your arguments, however he restates them, and retains such hostility towards you. It is one thing to have a disagreement on a particular concept, but to discredit by any means possible and exert such time and talent to it seems irrational (at best) to me. Perhaps it's professional jealously? The fact that you are a regular on Clark's show? Mr. Cowan might not have as strong a readership/listener ship. If he had shared his disagreement with you in a professional manner, it might have been possible for him to have gained your respect even with a disagreement and therefore influence. Instead, he accomplished the opposite. His loss, but also your possible loss. Of course the more public you become, the more you face these types of tactics. The fact that his "friend" wrote you separately to beg forgiveness of a kind, tells me this behavior is not exclusive. He could have written a thoughtful comment.
American Exceptionalism. This is a phrase I have a hard time with, and my arguments against it start with an argument supporting it. lol
It is true, that the US was the first nation in the history of the world to begin a nation on a Constitution protecting, not enumerating natural rights and capitalism. The US was also the first nation in the world to become the most powerful nation in under 150 years. That is no accident. Phrases such as "yankee ingenuity" and "can do spirit" and "rugged individualism."have strong elements of truth to them or they wouldn't stick. In other countries the stories of rags to riches are limited. In the US, for over 200 years, those stories are almost limitless. Many of those stories start with an immigrant. The founding fathers understood the importance of inventions and protecting them. They had the foresight to know this would be the way for a fledgling nation to prosper the quickest and have the most staying power. Up until the the second world war, american children grew up respecting and dreaming and eating and sleeping inventors and entrepreneurs as heroes. It was in their blood, so to speak, and born of a free nation. In every nation there is this potential, but like everything, it is best nurtured.
What I hate about american exceptionalism. 1. it does not explain why. this is very important, because over time people will come to believe it intrinsically without a basis causing 2. mysticism. That somehow americans are the ""chosen" people. so this implies, even if we were living as a communist nation, we exhibit american exceptionalism. Any other nation existing or new, can create the groundwork for exceptionalism in its people. It starts with a philosophy based in reason and natural rights, which the US is abandoning and becoming pretty non-exceptional as a whole.
As an example,I have heard Rush use the phrase many times over the years. My fear is, he can passionately say "american exceptionalism" without understanding the foundations which made it so.

Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Chevrolet! :)

and from Wiki:

Historian Dorothy Ross discussed three currents in American exceptionalism:

Protestant American Christians believed American progress would lead to the Christian Millennium.[19]
American writers also linked their history to the development of liberty in Anglo-Saxon England, even back to the traditions of the Teutonic tribes that conquered the western Roman empire.[20]
Other American writers looked to the "millennial newness" of America, seeing the mass of "virgin land" promised an escape from the decay that befell earlier republics.[21]

Outside of "new nation" all these descriptors are demonstratively false.

After reading your article I confess I'm confused what the "mixed economy" has to do with any of this.

You don't have a link to your radio comments that triggered his reply...or did I miss it somewhere? I do see you linked to Charles Murray defining the term American Exceptionalism, which was good. Was Mr. Cowan reacting negatively to comments similar to this?

I disagree with your statement: "The concept of serving God with humbleness may be what the majority of human beings believe, but that belief was created during the Dark Ages of Europe..." What makes you say this? This concept has been part of Judiasm and Christianity for thousands of years. Micah 6:8 and 2 Chronicles 7:14 just for example.

I also disagree with your statement "Yielding to ones faults, which humility implies..." There certainly is a yielding going on in humility, but it is not a yielding to ones faults. But maybe I'm just not understanding your point...?

I also disagree that we need to export our awesomeness to other nations. Why can't we just be the city on the hill, for others to emulate if they so choose? No argument that "Other countries would be much, much, MUCH better off if they adopted American ideals of independence, economic freedom, and creative enterprise". But if they don't see it that way, then what? We export it anyway? How is that done? Barrel of a gun?

Regarding Mr. Cowan's comment about lack of expression of "German Exceptionalism", I have spent a decent amount of time among German people and I can tell you they are enormously proud of their automobile engineering, their soccer (football) teams, their beers and wines, and their Formula-1 drivers...privately. They generally will not boast about these matters publicly because Germany proclaiming itself best in ANYTHING raises the spectre of Hitler and Naziism. This is a people that started a war over a belief they were a "master race" and then lost that war and went through a de-nazification process that is STILL subtly going on in the public school system today. Yeah...it doesn't surprise me we're not seeing Germans express a belief in their superiority. The reason has got nothing to do with German humility!

I also want to share a comment made to me by a German in his 50s. He greatly admired the USA because of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Paraphrasing his words: he came to the USA and became an actor...because he wanted to be. Then he wanted to become a governor, and he became governor. In the USA, you can be anything you want to be. This would NEVER have happened in Germany.

I compare this to a friend in his 30s that is also in Germany. He wants to work in the IT field. He has the skills. He uses them in his own house, among friends, and even at his own workplace when people have problems and need them fixed faster than the IT department can respond. He will never work in IT in Germany. He did not do well in tests during 10th grade, and the course of his life is now set in Germany. He is depressed because it doesn't matter if he now has the will, the drive, and the skills to succeed. His society is conspiring against him and will not let him succeed. This is what makes America exceptional. This kind of story is not unusual in Europe. But in the USA I'm sure without much searching I could find a dozen successful businessmen who didn't graduate high school, and if my friend came here, he could not only work in the IT field, he could very well start his own business.