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American Exceptionalism
When the American electorate re-elected George W. Bush as their President in November 2004, the rest of the world shook its head in collective amazement. They could not understand how someone the world 'loved to hate' and who, in their opinion, had committed 'monumental blunders' in his four years in office, could be chosen by so many Americans as their leader. They need not have been surprised having been forewarned by people such as Alexis de Tocqueville and Seymour Lipset about the phenomenon called 'American Exceptionalism.' Good or bad, America is different and the Americans often behave in vastly different ways from people living in the rest of the world. This essay highlights some of these differences. While Americans have firmly believed in their "Manifest Destiny" and embarked on numerous crusades to bring democracy to the world and to fight tyranny wherever it exists, they have practiced 'ethnic cleansing' of the American Indians at home, tolerated Jim Crow laws that prevented Afro-American suffrage in several U.S. states until the 1960s, and blatantly supported dictatorships around the world whenever it suited their interests. ("From Sea to...")
The roots of 'American Exceptionalism' can be traced to the very origin of the country -- the United States having been founded on the principles of "equality," the inalienable rights of man and liberty instead of common ethnicity, culture or language. Unfortunately, the professed basis of its nationhood was itself accompanied by double standards. The concept of "equality," "liberty" and "inalienable rights" being exclusively reserved for the white, property owning male with such 'basic rights' completely bypassing the Native Americans, the black slaves and the women for long periods of the nation's history.
Another paradox of America and Americans that is perplexing for many outsiders is the fact that a majority of Americans are extremely religious and moralistic in their attitudes. This is despite the fact that the America's founding fathers had strictly forbidden the encroachment of religion in governmental affairs. It is also, perhaps, one of the reasons why so many Americans…
Works Cited
From sea to shining sea." The Economist. November 6, 2003. March 1, 2005. http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=2172052
Lipset, Seymour Martin. "Still the Exceptional Nation?" The Wilson Quarterly. Volume: 24. Issue: 1. (2000): 31.
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859), French political thinker and historian -- author of "Democracy in America."
Seymour Martin Lipset is author of "American Exceptionalism." (1995)
When we speak of Puritanical values, however, some events in America's history seriously clash with its "pure values" or its belief that it's a world liberator. The first one was slavery. No where in the world have we witnessed just harsh case of slavery as in the United States. To this day, African-Americans have been unable to liberate themselves completely from the ugly history of slavery that had seriously marred
" This view appears to be excessively negative, not least because of its lack of balance. It fails to acknowledge balance and uses all arguments to the contrary to perpetuate itself. Neither the view of American exceptionalism being wholly good or wholly bad is therefore entirely realistic. Much more realistic is perhaps Koh's view, although it still tends towards the somewhat negative side. I do agree with this author in terms
American Exceptionalism While some believe that America is truly exceptional, others believe that it is just another country in history that has many of the same problems that other countries have. Furthermore, some people even go further towards the opposite end of the spectrum, against the idea of the U.S. being exceptional in any way, and believe that its actions and its presence are largely counterproductive among world affairs. For example,
The Myth of American Exceptionalism The myth of American exceptionalism is a familiar one to Americans and non-Americans alike. It suggest that America, as the home of the free and the brave, is unique in its allowance of freedom and social mobility, in contrast to Europe, Asia, and other, much older civilizations. Yet as noted by Stephen M. Walt in his essay, “The Myth of American Exceptionalism,” perhaps one of the
To wit, "half of Americans deem religion very important in their lives; fewer than a quarter in Spain (22%) feel this way, and in Germany (21%), Britain (17%) and France (13%), even fewer say religion is "very important" to their lives (PEW). Fifty-three percent of Americans are more apt to agree that it is vital to believe in God prior to having good morals and values while just 33% of
The quest for primacy is likely to lead to the formation of adversarial alliances and greater distrust of American intentions, endangering international stability and peace. In the domestic sphere, quest for primacy will lead to greater abuse of power and the expansion of the military, threatening the health of American democracy. Democracy may be eroded and the U.S. economy may be drained before advocates of American primacy may achieve