In Defense of American Exceptionalism

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!