In addition to an emphasis on competitive sports, the making of the American voter continues with biased curricula affirming his country can do no wrong. The historical claim that the United States is ‘exceptional’ is newly buttressed by the assertion that it is ‘the indispensable nation’. Politicians warn ominously that “If we don’t ‘step up to the plate’ no one else will”, in a harmless-sounding reference to baseball, where each pitcher in turn steps up to the ‘plate’ marking the spot from which he must throw the ball.