Exceptionalism

It appalls me the lack of understanding of the elements that make the United States of America different from any other country in the World and in history.

When we who are characterized as conservative talk of American “exceptionalism” we are not talking about the US being better than every other country or that Americans are better people that those living elsewhere. But without abandoning the observation that the US is the greatest country in the World and probably in history.

American exceptionalism is all about the US being the historical exception. It is different. The US is founded on thinking that is radically different from the founding philosophies of any other country, now or in the past. It is this exceptionalism that has created an environment that, to a greater degree than anywhere else, sets the human spirit free.

In looking for the components of American exceptionalism, and there are many, it is instructive to start at the very foundation.

Everywhere else in the World, and throughout history, governments, be they small scale tribal organizations or vast empires, the founding assumption is that the government takes care of the people and the people obey the government. Even the most tyrannical regimes have attempted to base their legitimacy on the concept of taking care of the people.

The Renaissance is a period generally accepted as starting in the 14^th Century and generally ending in the 17^th Century. The Renaissance was a period in which there was a renewed interest in “The Classics”, meaning Greek and Roman philosophy, thinking, and art. Of particular interest were the writings of the great classic philosophers, particularly in their focus on observation, deduction and logic.

The focus on these elements lead to an intense interest, moving into the 18^th century, in applying the principals of observation, deduction and logic to all aspects of life. One of the more radical philosophies to emerge was the “Age of Reason” and the rise of Deism. Though short-lived in their popularity, they did contribute to an interest in applying logical philosophy to government.

Late in the 17^th Century and into the early 18^th, there was, particularly here in North America (the USA did not exist at the time) a great Christian revival. This revival served, in a cultural sense, to focus attention on the value and worth of the individual. A radical concept.

There were thinkers, who were also leaders, at that time in America who developed new concepts around a logical approach to governance, as opposed to accepting the status quo, and the Christian concept that every life, not only has value, but has equal value to every other life. Another radical concept.

One of those thinkers was a young man from the Virginia colony...Thomas Jefferson. Though it is difficult to credit one individual, since so many great men signed on early, it was Thomas Jefferson that embodied the thinking in a very remarkable document, the Declaration of Independence.

It is in this document, the document that gave us a country, that the governing philosophy that would make the USA the greatest nation on earth was so eloquently stated. Today we have lost sight of how radical a document the Declaration of Independence is.

In that document, though not specifically stated, is the founding principal that the people would take care of themselves and the government would obey the people. That is a wildly radical idea even today. To the extent that no other country has dared to found a government upon it.

It is this founding principal that we are in danger of losing. If, indeed, we have not already lost it.

I can hear all the “progressives” (there is nothing progressive about the progressive movement. It is highly and intensely regressive) listing all the evils committed by us Americans. Evils that surely exist, but pale in comparison to the evils committed by every other culture on earth.

As an aside, it is the progressive movement, especially socialism, that strives to return the US to a governing philosophy, a philosophy demonstrably less successful than that expressed in the Declaration of Independence, of an earlier time.

In the US there is greater prosperity, greater distribution of wealth (oh yes there is), greater innovation, and greater freedom for individuals to follow their dreams than anywhere else in the World because the people are free to take care of themselves.

In the US evils are more likely to be corrected because the people hold dear the concept that every life has equal value to every other and the government is (was?) required to obey the people.

Every time I hear of those who subscribe to basic American thinking on government as “conservative” and those promoting socialism as “progressive”, I cringe.

There is no more radical concepts than every life having equal value, the government shall obey the people, and the people are free to take care of themselves.

There is also no concept in existence that is demonstrably so successful.