Thoughts on American Exceptionalism

The subject comes to mind as the U.S. sends thousands of U.S. military forces to Liberia to fight Ebola… and our nation is alone in doing so.  Why us?  African neighbors have more immediate worries about Ebola.  It’s on their doorstep and Europe is considerably closer to it than we are.

But helping solve problems around the world is what Americans do.  Sure,  self-interest plays a role but it’s often not the dominant one.  Humanitarian ones are.

Think, in recent  years, of American aid – no strings attached – to victims of tsunamis in the far east, earthquakes in Turkey or AIDS epidemics in Africa.

And survey after survey makes clear that Americans, as individuals, are more generous, more giving, than any other people in the world.

I think it’s appropriate to say, on that basis alone, that America and her people are exceptional.  In certain characteristics, we are superior to others in the world.

 

As a nation, we have valued our world role as a beacon of freedom and self-government.  We want to share our blessings.  That, indeed, makes us exceptional on another plane and that can include arrogance and foolishness as well.

After the Great War, Woodrow Wilson sought to make the world safe for democracy.  We know how that turned out.

 

Yet, after World War II, a similar motivation restored liberal democracy in West Germany and fostered its development in Japan.  The list goes on.  South Korea blossomed; South Vietnam received valiant efforts as did Iraq.  Sad results don’t alter the worthiness – positive exceptionalism – of the enterprises.

And consider this.  We are an exceptional super power.  America conquers and may occupy, for a while, but she always relinquishes her conquests.

Can you think of historical parallels?  Ancient Greece?  Rome?  The Ottoman Empire?  Germany?  None of them.  Not even Great Britain came close.

Why are we exceptional?  It’s certainly not our common genealogy or our millennia-long history which makes us unique.   And despite the land’s many springs, we really can’t say it’s something in the water.  No, America is exceptional because our nation has a special creed.  We believe we are a bright light in the world and take great pride in being so.  Freedom, liberty, opportunity and democracy – the American dream.

Yet, I acknowledge that the self-congratulatory tone is not as prevalent as it used to be. 

President Obama and his fellow liberals/leftists readily come to mind.  Their ambivalence, even hostility, to the concept of American exceptionalism explains, in large part, the decline of our influence in the world.  If our leaders don’t believe America is a force for good, deserving of respect, our friends will be weakened and our foes emboldened.  And so has it been in recent years. 

But, doubters aside, we remain exceptional.  There is considerable reason to believe that those who possess that knowledge will soon be ascendant in Washington D.C. again.