MLLG

American Exceptionalism

American Exceptionalism

Was America exceptional; is it still exceptional?

GEORGE NOGA

DEC 31, 2023


Much has been written about American exceptionalism (or the lack thereof) since Barack Obama’s turgid assertion that America was no more exceptional than Greece or, by implication, any other country. The fact of Obama being a two-term president of these United States, a nation only 13% African-American, gives lie to that statement. Can you imagine, even for one brief moment, a Caucasian being elected president of South Africa, a nation that coincidentally is only 13% white?

America Was Exceptional Because Its People Were Exceptional

Several years ago, I completed a three-volume 425,000 word family history that took years of research and encompassed nearly 400 people. It included my ancestors and their progeny (of which there are many) who immigrated to or were were born in America. It also included many of my ancestors and their progeny who remained in Europe – Slovakia on my father’s side and Hungary on my mother’s side.

I hired genealogists in both Slovakia and Hungary to research my ancestry and to identify living relatives in those countries. I travelled there twice, once with genealogists accompanying me as guides and translators. I met many relatives who never knew I existed. This provided me a rare perspective to compare the descendants of my ancestors who remained in Europe to those who immigrated to America.

My ancestors who emigrated from Slovakia and Hungary were the smartest, most ambitious, hardest working and most open to risk. Try to imagine leaving behind family and friends to take a long ocean voyage to an unknown place without money, education or speaking the language. Such people must have been imbued with an intense desire for liberty and to better themselves at great risk. There can be no mistake about the outcome; my ancestors who emigrated and their descendants are infinitely better off in every possible metric than those who remained in Europe.

If my family saga, admittedly anecdotal, proves anything, it is that those who immigrated to America were truly exceptional. Thus, America was seeded with exceptional people who did not follow the path of least resistance. America was exceptional because it was populated with exceptional people!

Other Indicia of American Exceptionalism

  • Many Europeans (Tocqueville, Trollope, Dickens and thousands of other lesser luminaries) marveled at and wrote extensively about America’s exceptionalism
  • America’s setting between two oceans and with a seemingly boundless frontier
  • Its founding documents defining the relationship between man and the state
  • The idea that men had natural rights not derived from the state
  • A pervasive sense of egalitarianism not found elsewhere

Historian Bernard Bailyn wrote the following description of early America.

Faith ran high that a better world than any that ever had been known could be built where authority was distrusted and held in constant scrutiny; where the status of men flowed from their achievements and from their personal qualities, not from distinctions ascribed to their birth; and where the use of power over the lives of men was jealously guarded and severely restricted. It was only where there was this defiance, this refusal to truckle, this distrust of all authority that institutions could express human aspirations, not crush them.”

Is America Exceptional Today?

I have no doubt whatsoever that America was exceptional at its founding, during the early years of the republic, during its march toward manifest destiny and well into the twentieth century. But things began to change in the second half of the 20th century.

I also have no doubt American exceptionalism has significantly eroded. All the indicia of our exceptionalism listed supra have been degraded. The oceans no longer isolate us; there is no frontier; egalitarianism has morphed into a more rigid class structure; our politics have become vulgar; and our liberties are under constant assault.

Bailyn’s description of early America no longer applies. The exceptionalism of our people, particularly their love of liberty, has been diluted by many subsequent generations where the qualities of early Americans have not been reinforced. As Ronald Reagan often said: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children. It must be fought for and protected.

America in 2024 is like a priceless jewel whose setting has become badly tarnished. Yet quite unmistakably, significant vestiges of American exceptionalism remain. America continues to be a beacon of liberty and hope for millions of people in countries all over the world – a shining city on the hill.

© 2023 George Noga
More Liberty – Less Government, Post Office Box 916381
Longwood, FL 32791-6381, Email: mllg@cfl.rr.com

Old Glory is 240 Years Old Today

Flag Day is celebrated on June 14 – commemorating the adoption of the flag by the Second Continental Congress on June 14, 1777 – 240 years ago today.
Old Glory is 240 Years Old Today
By: George Noga – June 14, 2017
      Exactly 240 years ago, the Second Continental Congress formally adopted our flag. Recently, several colleges have banned the flag from campus. Because our flag is under attack, this is a good time to revisit the question of American exceptionalism. President Obama famously stated: “I believe in American exceptionalism just as the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.” In other words, America is unexceptional. MLLG believes otherwise; to wit:
  • Since man first trod this earth, there have been 110 billion humans and fewer than 1% have lived their lives in liberty. Even today, less than 10% of the 7.5 billion people alive enjoy relative liberty. As Lincoln said at Gettysburg, America is a nation conceived in liberty. Clearly, liberty is exceptional throughout human history.
  • America’s founding was unique. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness were the driving forces, not bonds of religion, nationality or tribe. We are the only nation ever founded on an idea. Our motto is E Pluribus Unum, or one out of many, which not uncoincidentially contains exactly thirteen letters. The shot fired in Lexington at dawn on July 29, 1775 was the shot heard around the world for very good reason.
  • Our Constitution is by far the oldest surviving written charter of government; the second oldest is Norway’s in 1814 – 38 years later. Over 50% of constitutions fail within 20 years; ours has lasted 230 years and counting. Surely, this is exceptional.
  • America is a nation of immigrants. Despite some hiccups, all have been absorbed into the fabric of America. The Statue of Liberty says it all: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me. There has never been a country so welcoming to so many people from so many places for so long.
  • America has laid costly sacrifices on the alter of freedom in many wars and mostly without conquest, territory, resources or occupation. In WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf Wars and Afghanistan we sacrificed to keep the flame of liberty lit.
  • America remains exceptional today. We have acknowledged and sought to correct our mistakes. Many Muslim countries bar non Muslims from citizenship and condone slavery. Any Japanese who is even one-sixteenth Korean is shunned. China has fewer than 1,500 naturalized citizens. Europe fails to assimilate its immigrants. Places like Latin and South America, Africa, Central Asia, Russia and the Middle East are well beyond the pale. America remains the last best hope for the world.
     America is the only nation ever defined by an idea, and one that continues to be noble, true and eternal; it captivates and inspires people the world over who dream not only of coming to America but of becoming Americans. This land is our land, from California to the New York Island, from the redwood forests to the gulf stream waters, from purple mountain majesties above fruited plains to oceans white with foam.
      May God continue to shed his grace on America, to stand beside her and guide her with a light from above and may God continue to bless America – our home sweet home! On Flag Day we celebrate our flag and the exceptional nation it represents!

On June 18th we write about Fermi’s Paradox and extraterrestrial life.