Jan 3, 2011
Just before Christmas delivered us a much needed rest from fractious politics, a USA TODAY/Gallup poll claimed just over a third of Americans doubt that President Obama believes in American Exceptionalism. In the USA TODAY article that accompanied the poll results, Newt Gingrich, along with a few other notable Republicans, took the opportunity to revive their criticism of Mr. Obama for what they perceive to be a lukewarm belief in the United States unique nature and status in the world.
Before I hazard to even scratch the surface of the very real issues caused by our zealous adherence to our national exceptionalism, I first want to state for the record that I feel that Mr. Gingrich and his cohorts have gone overboard with the tea on this one. Doubting President Obama’s belief and pride in his country is a bunch of poppycock. I am sure that he is as proud of the exceptional nature of our country as his 43 predecessors — maybe even more so given his personal experience of the unique opportunities found in our great nation.
And, Mr. Gingrich, before you accuse me of being a sleeper Tory, please note that poppycock is a perfectly good US word of Dutch derivation, not British vernacular. Be assured, I am a patriot, too, even if I see some downside to our national ego-centrism.
There is no doubt that the United States is a uniquely successful experiment in democracy, capitalism, rule of law and personal freedom. However, our national compulsion to see ourselves as a Tigger with nary a peer in the world, future or present, may not be altogether positive for our future. In fact, it may eventually isolate us and, therefore, ultimately leave us weak and vulnerable.
Even the word American in American Exceptionalism presents a problem. On a fundamental level, our insistence on calling ourselves American inadvertently clouds our ability to see the other countries in our hemisphere — which are all American nations as well — as future equal partners. As a result of this myopia, we waste time and resources on erecting barriers to protect what we believe is exceptional rather than working to establish positive links with our fellow American nations. Therefore, we have missed many opportunities to make that which we believe makes us exceptional, the rule rather than the exception in our hemisphere.
The concept of a bonded hemisphere is not new. I have written before of how Pope John Paul II spoke of the common history and, by natural extension, common future of the nations of the Western Hemisphere. A century and a half before, Jefferson had the same vision of America as one. In a letter to Alexander von Humboldt about the emerging nations in what is now called Latin America, he boldly wrote, “But in whatever governments they end they will be American governments, no longer to be involved in the never-ceasing broils of Europe. The European nations constitute a separate division of the globe; their localities make them part of a distinct system…America has a hemisphere to itself.”
Understandably, what is clear to prophetic popes and prescient founders is not always clear to us common folk or every national leader. However, it is hard to let us ourselves off the hook too easily when Europe has already fully realized the destiny Jefferson envisioned for it while we continue to stand largely alone in our part of the world.
Could our adherence to American Exceptionalism be the hold back? Certainly, a nation that believes it is unparalleled is less likely to reach out to build relationships with other nations, especially those that are currently less developed.
As a simple step forward, maybe we can make it our New Year’s resolution to refer to ourselves as the United States, not as America. If it works, we may also find ourselves one day very proud to be un-exceptional.