As the media continues to portray a culture war both globally and on American soil, a number of scholars have questioned the characteristics of the nation which have, for centuries, declared American Exceptionalism. These scholars, or rather critics, are taking into account the conservative political movement of the GOP which approached both the national politics and the foreign policy. However, a true look at American Exceptionalism should begin with the idea of being exceptional. This subjective term must be applied in a comparative response to other nations which are by far inferior to the United States on a number of social, political, and religious concepts.
This superiority relates to exceptionalism in the truest sense of the term. In other words, American Exceptionalism must be viewed through the fundamental elements of the nation which makes it, not only superior to other nations, but also clearly exceptional. The view of America as an exceptional society can be approached through the freedoms which are granted to the citizens and promoted globally, the strength and resiliency of the military, and the structured democratic-republican government which maintains balance and prevents the potential for a tyranny in the nation.
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"American Exceptionalism".
First and foremost, it is important to address the exceptional freedoms that are provided for the citizens of the United States and promoted on a global scale. Scholars note that “freedom of religion is one of the key civil rights enshrined within the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States” (Taylor and Hawley 344). This is critical as the right to believe and worship without persecution creates a society whereas individuality is recognized and protected. Other freedoms such as the Freedom of Speech continue to function for this purpose.
Additionally, these freedoms offer the equality of opportunity which is further fostered by the economy within the nation. This concept, not only allows people to advance and prosper, but assists and encourages this advancement as well. This prevents the government from dictating the lives of individuals. This is not true in a number of nations which supports the claim that America is exceptional in the freedoms that it provides for its citizens. The continued processes of fighting for such rights in other nations further shows that the United States is socially responsible and willing to focus on the needs and rights of others regardless of their position to give back to the nation. This sense of altruism makes the United States truly exceptional.
However, it is notable that not all foreign governments are in favor of the freedoms that the United States promotes globally. Therefore, there are regular threats to the security of the nation. In response to these threats, “ The United States maintains, and is even increasing, a massive superiority in conventional military capabilities and funding compared to the rest of the world — potential enemies and friends alike. The trend of military funding dominating the U.S. federal budget also continues” (Corbin and Levitsky 21). This has a number of exceptional implications. The first is that the military in the United States is far superior to other nations. This is based on the fact that the government places a great emphasis on the safety and security of its citizens. This also means that the general public can rest at ease by knowing that their freedoms are being protected by the largest and most prestigious military in the world. These implications of exceptionalism go beyond the requirements of a government and show a true concern for maintaining peace for humanity.
As noted, despite spending a great deal of the overall budget on the military and goals of spreading freedoms across the globe, the United States also shows exceptionalism through maintaining an economy that allows for prosperity for its own citizens. In fact, research shows that “the overall business environment in the United States is very good. The political situation is fundamentally stable, notwithstanding sometimes stark ideological differences between the two main political parties” (“Country Reports – United States” 3). This is due to the fact that, even though there are differences in ideologies, the overall goal of prosperity for the systems and stabalization for the economy remains a constant in the American government. This is a true characteristic of being exceptional.
Finally, the structure of the American political system which is a structured democratic-republican government, requires a constant chain of compromises and checks and balances that prevent the concepts of a tyranny or the loss of the freedoms within the nation. This system has so positively protected the citizens of the United States of America from being oppressed through any religious or social context that it has served for the “justification for an aggressive international promotion of American ideals” (Lewis 19). This means that the political system within America is considerably more superior to other nations and that the drive to help others across the globe often includes a form of pressure for other governments to offer the same participation in politics to its citizens as does the United States.
However, it is also important to address the claims of the critics out of both discovery and rebuttal. First of all, scholars have noted that “each nation laughs at all the others when it observes these manifestations of national vanity” (Gamble 14). Yet these other nations are not offering assistance, promoting freedom, and backing this claim with a superior military. Others claim of America that “its wartime conduct has hardly been a model of restraint” (Walt 73). To that, one could respond that the United States military has often taken on some of the most feared enemies and prevailed with a continuation of its superiority. Other nations should be grateful for the drive that the American military has to promote freedom and security across the globe.
American Exceptionalism has meant a number of different things to a variety of administrative leaders. However, exceptional has continued to mean the same thing. Exceptional means superior in the context of goodness. The United States provides freedoms which foster individualism and protects those freedoms by funding the grandest military. The government is structured to further protect the rights of the citizens while maintaining a balance in the society. American citizens do not live in fear and the United States is pressing for that same sense of security across the globe. That makes the United States of America not only superior but also truly exceptional.
