The concept of American exceptionalism is as old as the United
States, and it implies that the country has a qualitative difference
from other nations. This notion of being special gives Americans the
sense that playing a lead role in world affair is part of their natural
historic calling. However there is nothing historically exceptional
about this: the Roman empire also viewed itself as a system superior to
other nations and, more recently, so did the British and the French
empires.
On the topic of American exceptionalism, which he often called
“Americanism”, Seymour Martin Lipset noted that “America’s ideology can
be described in five words: liberty, egalitarism, individualism,
populism and laissez-faire. The revolutionary ideology, which became
American creed, is liberalism in its eighteenth and nineteenth-century
meaning. It departed from conservatism Toryism, statist
communitarianism, mercantilism and noblesse-oblige dominant in
monarchical state-church formed cultures.” Naturally identifying
America’s system as a unique ideology, just like calling its successful
colonial war against Britain a revolution, is a fallacy. For one,
America was never based on social equality, as rigid class distinctions
always remained through US history.
In reality, the US has never broken from European social models.
American exceptionalism implies a sense of superiority, just like in the
case of the British empire, the French empire and the Roman empire. In
such imperialist systems, class inequality was never challenged and, as
matter of fact, served as cornerstone of the imperial structure. In
American history, the only exception to this system based on social
inequality was during the post World War II era of the economic
“miracle”. The period from 1945 to the mid 1970s was characterized by
major economic growth, an absence of big economic downturns, and a much
higher level of social mobility on a massive scale. This time frame saw a
tremendous expansion of higher education: from 2.5 million people to 12
million going to colleges and universities, and this education
explosion, naturally, fostered this upward mobility where the American
dream became possible for the middle class.
Regardless of real domestic social progress made in the United
States after the birth of the empire in 1945, for the proponents of
American exceptionalism — this includes the entire political class — the
myth of the US being defined as a “shining city on a hill” has always
been a rationale to justify the pursuit of imperialism. For example,
when President Barack Obama addressed the nation to justify the US
military intervention in Libya, he said that “America is different”, as
if the US has a special role in history as a force for good. In a
speech
on US foreign policy, at West Point on May 28, 2014, Obama bluntly
stated: “In fact, by most measures, America has rarely been stronger
relative to the rest of the world. Those who argue otherwise — who
suggest that America is in decline or has seen its global leadership
slip away are misreading history. Our military has no peer…. I believe
in American exceptionalism with every fiber of my being.”
In his book, Democracy In America, Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville
was lyrical in his propaganda-like adulation of American exceptionalism,
defining it almost as divine providence. “When the earth was given to
men by the Creator, the earth was inexhaustible. But men were weak and
ignorant, and when they had learned to take advantage of the treasures
which it contained, they already covered its surface and were soon
obliged to earn by the sword an asylum for repose and freedom. Just then
North America was discovered, as if it had been kept in reserve by the
Deity and had risen from beneath the waters of the deluge”, wrote de
Tocqueville.
This notion, originated by the French author, and amplified ever
since, which defined the US as the “divine gift” of a moral and virtuous
land, is a cruel fairy tale. It is mainly convenient to ease up
America’s profound guilt. After all, the brutal birth of this nation
took place under the curse of two cardinal sins: the theft of Native
American lands after committing a
genocide
of their population; and the hideous crime of slavery, with slaves
building an immense wealth for the few, in a new feudal system, with
their sweat, tears and blood.
Gilbert Mercier is the Editor in Chief of News Junkie Post.
No comments:
Post a Comment