American Exceptionalism

News is that Oklahoma, in a supposed rebuff to the Common Core curriculum, is proposing making it illegal for state high schools to offer Advanced Placement courses. The thinking here is that the federal government is too involved in deciding what should be considered for such courses and that means that the federal government is meddling too much in what should be state and local issues. In addition, the complaint is that Advanced Placement courses don't place enough emphasis on “American Exceptionalism.” For those unfamiliar with the term American Exceptionalism is a theory that the United States occupies a space that is different and superior to other nations. The term has been used by conservative writers and policy makers to lend credence to American intervention in global disputes. No one disputes the right of the United States to intervene in issues that affect its national interests but to even imply that we have some inherent right to do so because of some superior endowment is just plain hubris.

When I was a kid (and that was a bit longer ago than I like to admit) my Dad taught me that there was no one else any better than me. At the same time he taught that I should not act as though I was any better than anyone else either. I would bet good money that well over 90% of you were taught the same lessons. My teachers (my Mother included) were people that had endured The Great Depression and World War II. Life lessons had taught them quite a lot about living in a society that had seen desperate times from allowing the elite of society to grow into an entitled class. World War II taught them that it could all disappear and that any one of them could be required to sacrifice for the well being of the whole. Lessons that we seem to have forgotten. We have once again allowed a privileged class to rise to great positions of power. Levels that exceed even those of that long ago Gilded Age. Now we can go to war without requiring sacrifice from the public, indeed, without even paying for it. Just put it on the credit card. There will be no suffering required. Now, just how exceptional is that? It is pretty exceptional but not in a good way.

The idea of using American Exceptionalism to justify foreign adventures reminds me of nothing so much as Manifest Destiny. You may recall that doctrine from high school American History as being the doctrine that allowed us to drive across the continent in a wave that took land from the native Americans. It held that if it were not manifest that God wanted this we would not be able to do it. The depredations and misdeeds done in the name of Manifest Destiny have come more to light since my high school days and one must acknowledge that great harm was done. Shall we ever be able to rectify those misdeeds? Not likely but at least the new doctrine of American Exceptionalism will allow those we conquered to live in an exceptional nation.

Personally, I think we do live in an exceptional country. In the 240 years since our independence we have done many worthwhile things along with some not so worthwhile. What is exceptional about our country are the ideals upon which it was founded and that bear so much tending in order to sustain. We have not always been faithful. But to assert that we have some right to press our culture and belief on some other country is being untrue to that heritage. Truthfully, a nation cannot be exceptional unless its people are exceptional.

While it is possible for us to live in an exceptional country it does not necessarily follow that we are exceptional and others are not. Great empires have risen to be exceptional but have fallen when that sense of exceptionalism gave way to a sense of privilege and the benefits that arose from that status were not shared with the multitudes. It is a given that people with great privilege will attempt to keep that status proprietary and not share it and that is not exceptional.

To assert that such a thing as American Exceptionalism would give the United States the right to go about attempting to dictate a way of life to others and to bend the world to our whim is hubris befitting the gods and that hubris is what always brought them to their downfall. If we continue to assert American Exceptionalism it will one day be our downfall also. If we look about the world over the past fifty years there is no shortage of adventures in which we attempted to mold countries and people to fit our perceptions and values but when we do that we automatically devalue what they hold dear about their own countries and ways of life.

But a doctrine of “American Exceptionalism” carries with it a connotation of some divine right having been bestowed upon us just as we once asserted of “Manifest Destiny.” It is dangerous to allow ourselves to become what we believe to be heirs of some divine or inevitable gift because then what we do in the name of that gift we must also attribute that worthiness. Do we dare assert that? Is there an empire that has ever risen that did not assert that?

My Take is that exceptionalism is as exceptionalism does (to paraphrase a great philosopher). If we are to be remembered by history as being and exceptional nation then we must attempt to provide an environment in which the values that we treasure can come to fruition. We must allow that not all peoples follow the waves of history on the same timetable but perhaps by our example we can be the exceptional nation that is admired globally and that others may wish to emulate. To do so we will have to tame our own appetites and be more willing to engage with reason and patience. We will never achieve that American Exceptionalism by dint of power and force but only by being able to carry our core values that assert the power of the people through the ages.