That Noble Strength: Thoughts on American Exceptionalism

Originally posted at The Festering Swamp on June 25, 2007

I still stand by every word I posted in this entry. Patriotism, or any acknowledgement of America's greatness, has long been considered déclassé amongst most of my fellow academics. Perhaps it is because they do not understand the concept of patriotism. Calvin Coolidge said it best: "Patriotism is easy to understand. It means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country." – Mike LaRoche

In this article by Amanda Marcotte – a review of Michael Moore's Sicko – what caught my eye were Marcotte's ruminations on American exceptionalism. She defines American exceptionalism as "the belief that America is somehow better or at least different and can't be held up to the same standards as other countries" and ultimately concludes, "American exceptionalism is our nation's tragic flaw." Are Marcotte's definition and conclusion correct?

In American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword, eminent sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset defines American exceptionalism as the belief that American culture is "qualitatively different" from not only undeveloped third world nations, but also from other advanced industrialized nations. Of the latter group, writes Lipset, America "is the most religious, optimistic, patriotic, rights-oriented, and individualistic." Unlike the United States, advanced nations like Canada, Japan, and the democracies of Western Europe place more of a cultural emphasis on obedience and deference to those in positions of political authority. American culture, by contrast, is defined by a political culture of "liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, populism, and laissez-faire" – all of which feeds into a national political discourse which establishes the importance of individual liberty as a national political fulcrum.

Accepting Lipset's definition as accurate and objective, Marcotte's definition of American exceptionalism is also acceptable if one takes the value judgment of Americans into consideration. Most Americans – native-born and naturalized – would agree with the proposition that a culture which respects the rights of the individual is better than any culture which posits the sate or society above the individual. The Anglo-cultural concept of individuals possessing inviolable natural rights dates as far back as 1600s England, even earlier actually. In the United States, such ideals (along with the balanced republicanism of Montesquieu) formed the very basis of our governing documents and political institutions at the time of our country's founding, and do so to this day.

As the United States expanded across the North American continent during the 1800s, American exceptionalism (which could be perceived in prototypical form in the writings of the early seventeenth century Massachusetts Bay Puritans) was visible in the concept of "Manifest Destiny." That term, coined by newspaper editor John L. O'Sullivan in 1839, was used to emphasize America's uniqueness among the nations of the world and the civilizing mission our nation was fulfilling by expanding westward toward the Pacific Ocean. The United States did not always live up to the ideals of its supposed civilizing mission, as evidenced by the poor treatment of American Indians and enslaved Africans. However, the belief that America's growth was rooted in a noble cause resulted in constant moral self-examination, a self-examination resulting in the eventual repeal of slavery, the desire of President Woodrow Wilson and many of his successors to make the world "safe for democracy," and even the struggle to guarantee civil rights to historically oppressed American minorities. After all, how could America demand that other nations acknowledge the individual rights of their citizens if it did not do the same with all of its own?

Thus, I do not agree with Marcotte's conclusion that American exceptionalism is America's tragic flaw. Rather, I regard it as our noble strength; an aspect of our national character than has enabled us – over the course of more than two centuries – to become a more just and righteous nation. When any leftist colleague of mine levels the accusation of American exceptionalism at me, I do not deny it. Rather, I accept it and take pride in it, as should all Americans.