American Exceptionalism- What's So Great About America?

By John Stallings


 In the spring of 1984, an Irish band on the verge of breaking through to superstardom was making its way through America.

On the third leg of an international concert tour and not yet able to afford to travel across the country by plane, they were relegated to traveling from show to show on a tour bus. Starting from Dallas, Texas, they criss-crossed the continent numerous times as they finally made their way to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

By this time, the band had seen the Southwest, the Deep South, New England, the Midwest, and the West Coast. The trail they followed was unconventional, but still allowed them to see a landscape that few Irish people, let alone most Americans, get to see in a three-month period.

The band’s lead singer, an ambitious 24-year-old former chess prodigy, decided to try to capture the essence of the country he witnessed as their tour bus rolled from coast to coast and up and down the Mississippi River. The singer strummed along with the band’s 23 year old lead guitarist and together they wrote “Heartland” – a song later featured on the album Rattle and Hum. This five-minute ode to America attempted to delve beneath the glitz and glamour of New York City and Hollywood.

On all future American tours, this band, known as U2 to the world, would fly from city to city, but their epic road trip through rural and urban America had a deep impact on these musicians from a small island. U2’s next album, The Joshua Tree, would contain numerous references to the underside of America and the rejuvenating and cleansing effect it has on individuals.

U2’s feel for America, as outsiders looking in, is not unusual.

AMERICANS FAT WITH PROSPERITY

I read about a seventeen year old young man from India who was trying to move to America. When asked why he wanted to come here he said “I want to live in a country where most of the people are fat.” Of course we’d recoil from a statement like that because we who are “stout” are fighting it with a vengeance because we don’t think fat looks good neither is it healthy.

Incidentally, I’ve been to many parts of the world and have observed that we have the fattest poor people in America than any nation I’ve visited. I don’t say this without compassion because we all know the least expensive food has far and away the emptiest calories. The poor people in other countries are skin and bones, looking as if they’d love a sandwich while in this nation it’s not unusual to see a 300-plus lb. poor person.

I think I see what the young Indian man was driving at. He’d grown up in a nation where people routinely die of mal-nutrition, many in their youth. Large trucks in the cities make the rounds each morning to pick up the many street people who’ve died overnight like the garbage and refuse trucks make their rounds in America. This young Indian felt if people were getting plenty to eat, that country had to be doing something right. At least he had a chance of not starving in America.

WHY AMERICA?

America has always been a “melting pot,” drawing immigrants to its ports, but why America? What makes the United States such a prime destination for many citizens of the world? Although some would point to our more than two centuries of political stability or its continual economic strength, [sadly this is changing for the worse] the lure of America reaches deeper. England, for example, has remained relatively consistent for the past two centuries. The nineteenth century saw the rise of the British Empire, whose size was reminiscent of the Roman Empire. Yet, despite this, the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” set their sights on the “Land of Opportunity,” our beloved America.

It would be difficult to pinpoint just one aspect of the American greatness, but political observers have come up with a variety of possibilities and blended them into the concept called “American Exceptionalism.”

1. The first component that’s given by honest historians for America’s Exceptionalism is: God bestowed His divine grace upon the United States from its earliest times. God chose America to serve as an example for the rest of the world. This is illustrated clearly in the great book “City upon a Hill” a sermon preached in 1630 by the Puritan leader John Winthrop, who envisioned a new society to show the Old World how to create a godly and orderly civilization.

2. The second component is genetic in nature; - the United States has benefited by a diversity of race, ethnicity, and other physical characteristics of its people. E Pluribus Unum, a phrase that appears on our currency and in other places means “Out of Many, One." Sounds to me a lot like: - "We're all in this thing together."

3. The third component is environmental: geography, climate, and resources gave the United States all the conditions necessary for its success.

4. The fourth component in America’s Exceptionalism is the fact that Americans have had an enduring distrust of too much federal government.

Note that I said-“We have had an enduring distrust of too much federal government.” Sometime in the middle of the twentieth century, right after the Great Depression, there was a sudden shift and many Americans began to rely more on the federal government.

America is undeniably the greatest country in the world, blessed with unparalleled freedoms and prosperity that for generations have made us an innovative and industrious people. America is exceptional. We’re afforded certain God-given rights that can never be taken away unless we relinquish them. We know that God, not government, bestows upon us these inalienable rights, and because of that, they must not be compromised by the whims of man. This makes us a unique nation, a nation that remains, as President Ronald Reagan once said, "a model and hope to the world."

Unfortunately, some leaders have either forgotten or chosen to ignore the glory of our founding. In April 2009, President Obama told a reporter in Strasbourg, France: "I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism." In saying this, the president implied that American Exceptionalism is nothing terribly special and instead simply chalked it up to “romantic patriotism.”

I can’t tell you how upsetting this attitude makes me because it’s undermining our national portrait and our desire and ability to be leaders in the world. One doesn’t have to look far to see how pervasive “talking America down” has become.

TIME MAGAZINE

Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Time Magazine editor Richard Stengel presented the cover of his new July 4 issue, whose cover features a picture of the U.S. Constitution going through a paper shredder. Written across the middle of the page is a question asking- Does this document still matter? According to Stengel, “it does, but not as much anymore.”

Stengel said “People all the time are debating what’s constitutional and what’s unconstitutional. To me the Constitution is a guardrail. It’s for when we are going off the road and it gets us back on. It’s not a traffic cop that keeps us going down the center. There were no people who argued more about defining principles of America than the framers of the Constitution. They argued both sides of the most powerful issues in American history – slavery, states’ rights, central government, etc.”

IMO America would be better off if those who have disdain for this country and its Constitution would get on a slow boat to China and never return. But make no mistake they’d return and they’d kiss the ground when they arrived. I’ve often said, I wish every American could take a three week trip around the world and they’d see what an indescribable jewel The United States really is. If our citizenry visited a few other nations, if they did nothing but fly over them and smell the air emanating from the cities, [some Far East cities can be smelled from the air as a passenger jet approaches them] we’d have citizens who would return to this country with a new-born appreciation for their homeland.

American Exceptionalism isn’t empty national narcissism, but rather recognition of the blessings of God that keep our nation strong, independent, and free. We see the American story as one of tenacity and triumph. not as one flawed and in need of rewriting. We aren’t in need of “fundamental transformation” either. We recognize the times we’ve stumbled. We haven’t been perfect but if we stumbled, we always stumbled in the right direction and we know that it’s not due to the weakness of our foundation, but rather, human imperfection.

WHY AMERICA IS EXCEPTIONAL

American is exceptional because of our belief in the dignity and creativity of the individual made in God’s image. We know that it’s innately human to work, to risk, and to dream. We understand that these virtues, coupled with the conditions American Exceptionalism provides, allow us to enjoy the economic and social strength that other countries envy.

At their core, those who reject American Exceptionalism view the Constitution as a roadblock, and they yearn for unlimited federal government with more authority than the states and more power than the people. Because they strive for an all powerful federal government, they’re willing to sacrifice the rugged individualism that has made this nation exceptional in exchange for the “collective strength” they believe a vast government provides.

The latter-day darling of the progressive/socialistic movement is, of course, President Obama.

If you’ve read this blog long you’ll know that I’m not a supporter of president Obama’s policies and wrote blogs many months before he was elected sketching out what life with Obama would look like. If I say so myself, I was right on target. In all candidness, millions of others made the same predictions.

Let me be clear,   "President Obama: America is the greatest nation on Earth." Our exceptionalism is forever ingrained in our founding documents that spell out exactly the roles of the federal government in relation to individual rights and states' rights.

Simply ignoring the truths of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution won't make them go away. There are tens of millions Americans, who love our country far too much to allow our exceptionalism to be exchanged for greater expansion of an already bloated, out-of-control, money grubbing federal government.

America was founded at a particular time, by a particular people, on the basis of particular principles about God, man, liberty, and constitutional government. The American people are among the most hard-working, church-going, affluent, and generous in the world. The founding of the United States was revolutionary, not in the sense of replacing one set of rulers with another, or overthrowing the institutions of society, but in placing political authority in the hands of the people.

As the English writer G. K. Chesterton famously observed, "America is the only nation in the world that is founded on a creed." That creed is set forth most clearly in the Declaration of Independence, by which the American colonies announced their separation from Great Britain. The Declaration is a timeless statement of human rights, the proper purposes of government, and the limits on political authority.

Our Founders appealed to self-evident truths, stemming from the Laws of God, to justify their liberty. This is a universal and permanent standard. These freedoms should not be unique to America but apply to all men and women everywhere. They are as true today as they were in 1776.

Working from the principle of equality, our Founders asserted that men could govern themselves according to common beliefs and the rule of law. Throughout history, political power was—and still is—often held by the strongest. But if all are equal and have the same rights, then no one is fit by nature to rule or to be ruled.

As Thomas Jefferson put it, “The mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately. The only source of the legitimate powers of government is the consent of the governed.”

Americans see our religious liberty as a fundamental right. It’s in our nature to pursue our convictions. Government can’t establish an official religion, but it must guarantee the free exercise of religion. If a free people are to govern themselves politically, they must understand that freedom goes hand in hand with responsibility.

These principles also mean that everyone has the right to the fruits of their own labor. This fundamental right to acquire, possess, and sell property is the backbone of this great nation and the most practical way to pursue happiness. This right, along with the free enterprise system, is the source of prosperity and the foundation of economic liberty.

The United States Constitution defines the institutions of American government: three distinct branches of government that make the law, enforce the law, and judge the law. This gives our government the powers it needs to protect our fundamental rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The ultimate purpose of these rights and of limiting government is to protect freedom. That freedom allows our society—family, school, church, and private associations—to thrive.

America is great because our founders appealed to a higher standard, that all governments receive their power from the consent of the governed.

Freedom doesn’t belong only to the United States. The Declaration of Independence holds that all men everywhere are endowed with a right to liberty. That liberty is a permanent aspect of human nature everywhere and is necessary to understanding America's success, under God.

The primary responsibility of the United States is to defend the freedom and well-being of its people. To do this, we must apply America's universal principles to the challenges we face in the world.

This is not easy. America has not always been successful. But because of the principles to which we are dedicated, we always strive to uphold its highest ideals. More than any other nation, we have a special responsibility to defend the cause of liberty at home and abroad.

As George Washington said in his First Inaugural Address: “The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people. America's role in the world is to preserve and to spread, by example and by action, the "sacred fire of liberty."


America is an exceptional nation, but not because of what it has achieved or accomplished. America is exceptional because, unlike any other nation, it’s dedicated to the principles of human dignity/liberty, grounded on the truths that all men are created equal and have equal God-given rights.

America's principles have created a prosperous and just nation unlike any other nation in history. They explain why we strongly defend our country, look proudly at our nation's origins, assert our political rights and civic responsibilities, and remain convinced of the special meaning of our country and its role of the world. Make no mistake, it’s because of our Godly principles, not despite them, that America has achieved greatness.

To this day, so many years after the American Revolution, these principles—proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution—still define us as a nation and a people. This is why friends of freedom the world over look to the United States not only as an ally against tyrants and despots but also as a powerful beacon to all.

Someone has said that the difference in a political conservative and a liberal is that conservatives look at the 4th of July as America’s birthday, while many liberals, especially in Washington D.C think that date to be April 15th.

May God continue to bless America!


Blessings,


John