The concept of American Exceptionalism is back in the news
again and as usual it is creating a stir. For many non-Americans and especially
Europeans, it raises hackles. "How dare those braggarts declare themselves
superior. Those young upstarts!" While it is true, many of my fellow
countrymen believe American Exceptionalism does mean that we are better than
the rest of the world, they are mistaken just as are those citizens of other
countries that view the phrase as a demonstration of Yankee conceit. Even
President Obama got it wrong when he said in his speech outlining the case for
attacking Syria,
“But when, with modest effort and risk, we can stop children
from being gassed to death, and thereby make our own children safer over the
long run, I believe we should act. ... That’s what makes America different.
That’s what makes us exceptional.” This was met with the following, rather
ironic quote by Russian President Putin in a September 12, 2013 Op-Ed in the
New York Times. Putin wrote:
"...I would rather disagree with a case he (President
Obama) made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy
is 'what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional' It is
extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional,
whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and
poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way
to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask
for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal."
It is easy to forgive Mr. Obama's mistake - after all, he is
a relative newcomer when it comes to believing in American Exceptionalism. It
was not too long ago when he declared that “I believe in American
exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British
exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.” Putin's mistake,
piggy-backing off of Obama's, is also understandable (though I find it strange
to hear references to God, the Lord and democracy coming from a former Soviet
KGB officer.) If Putin, Obama and so many others keep getting it wrong, then what
is American Exceptionalism?
American Exceptionalism is the notion that the United States
of America (not Americans themselves) is special; unique. Our Founding Fathers
codified in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution that the rights of
man come from God and the rights of government come from the governed. This led
to America’s unique ideology that, according to Seymour Martin Lipset (late political
sociologist and recognized expert on the subject) is based upon the ideas of
liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, populism, and laissez faire. Jefferson,
Franklin, Madison et al didn't invent these ideas. They learned them from
reading the writings of the great European philosophers John Locke, Adam Smith
and Montesquieu among others and applying them. The result was a new country
with an economic and political environment that allowed ordinary citizens from
every corner of the world to come and create, achieve and prosper to levels
that were impossible for them in their native lands. Perhaps one of the greatest
examples of the exceptional nature of America is that a little boy, who only
150 years might have been consider someone else's property based on the color
of his skin; essentially abandoned by his hippie mother and foreign Kenyan
father, could grow up to become president. If that isn't exceptional, I don't
know what is!
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