Last week, the National Journal carried an article by Clive Crook entitled “The End of the American Exception?” With the launch of www.theamericanexception.com, I hope to answer that question – again and again. The American exception is alive and well.
Crook argues that America’s exceptional place in world affairs is underpinned by the fundamentals of its culture.
I couldn’t agree more.
He goes on to say that he didn’t move from Britain to the United States, only to see America change its capitalist system and morph into a modern European welfare state.
Again, I couldn’t agree more.
Like Crook, I too am British-born, and don’t want to feel that in becoming American, I made a wasted trip. I particularly share his dread of Britain’s once soul destroying trade unions.
However, I cannot agree with Crook’s underlying assumption that it is America’s form of capitalism, and its attitude to risk, that make it a truly exceptional country. Of course, capitalism is part of the American spirit. However, America’s exception lies not in its economic system, but it in the unique nature of its founding principles.
America is not a country built on a single race, but rather on a set of ideals. That out of many races would come one people. Unique from any other superpower in history, America is not bent on conquering other peoples and acquiring global empires. Rather, it based its republic on individual liberty and government by the people. In fact, the United States has regarded the spread of democracy (whether sensible or not) to be its historic mission. It is these principles that make America unique.
The roots of the term “American Exceptionalism” are first attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville, who noted that the then-50-year-old United States held a special place among nations, because it was a country of immigrants and the first modern democracy. Those facts remain as strong today as they were back then. This is not to advocate that America be above the Laws of Nations, or that it should act arrogantly, ignoring the views of its allies around the world. In fact, it was America that set up the modern system of global diplomacy, and it is its membership of the Western World that will increasingly underpin its claim to preeminence as China, and other countries, gain power and prestige.
America is different. The unique combination of its geography and culture has created a spirit of optimism and can-do that is not found in other countries. America has become the world’s only truly international society, with citizens hailing from all corners of the world. Its unmatched dynamism is fostered by a firm commitment to free enterprise. And while Crook is right that the size of America’s government is growing – worryingly so – its ideals of liberty, self-government and constitutionally guaranteed civil rights endure. And as long as they do, the American Exception is alive and well.
