American Exceptionalism

Henry Johnson LR
Aug 23, 2017 · 4 min read

A simple definition of American Exceptionalism focuses on the condition of being exceptional; uniqueness not an “empire of liberty.” Throughout the years, in political campaigns, candidates approached to American exceptionalism has gone viral. It serves for the most part as a term of a “polarizing opinions” that divides Liberals and Conservatives.

Howard Zinn argued that “the U.S. history is morally blemished, pointing to the impact of slavery, civil rights and social welfare issues, that it cannot be an exemplar of human virtue.” He also argues that “American exceptionalism cannot be of divine origin because it was not benign, especially when dealing with Native Americans.” Due to this exceptionalism “criticism” of the American government for its worldly actions could sometimes be taboo. The critics are sometimes faced with “why don’t you go somewhere else?” It holds a basic ideology that no matter what the U.S. government does overseas, “right” or “wrong,” that our government means “well.”

During the 2012 Presidential run off, Mitt Romney argued that “American strength is essential not just to our well-being, but for the world’s.” Drawing on historical lessons on how great powers fall, Romney shows how and why our national advantages have severely crumbled. From the long-term decline of our manufacturing base, our slow paced educational system that has left us without enough skilled professionals and the unprepared for the challenges it must face. Romney focuses his attention on “no apology” and “renewal” to restore America’s strength and place in the world.

Most importantly, he encourages Americans to rethink a new commitment to citizenship, a common cause we all share, rather than a laundry list of individual demands. Many of his solutions opposed President Barack Obama’s policies, many also run counter to Republican ideology, but they all had one and powerful strategic aim: to move America back to a political and economic world power.

My ideal view of the American political system is based on the democratic, empire of liberty, and equality approach. It focusses on the majoritarian model, which refers to democracy based upon majority rule of community’s citizenship.

The MAJORITARIAN MODEL of democracy relies on structuralist theory of democracy.

Government by the majority of the people.
Mass participation in politics is required.
The People are well-informed on political issues and make thoughtful voting decisions.
Citizens to participate directly in decision making.

With that being said, government officials are accountable to the people, and under the law, “all men are created equal.” With the empire of liberty approach, we should focus our energy at home and stop enforcing our ideologies on other nations that don’t believe in “deliberation” of American idealism. America shouldn’t be a paradox. But a nation that focuses its energy at home. I find Howard Zinn argument more persuasive because he adopted a multicultural approach to the idea of “American Exceptionalism.”

His approach changes the way one would look at our government actions abroad. It also helps examines the way our government conducts its actions abroad and how it is affecting us as an “empire of liberty” instead of a nation. In depth, American political cultural ideal contains some core values. Not all Americans share the same views, of course, but the vast majority believes in these general ideals, including liberty, equality, democracy, individualism, unity, and diversity.

My belief of the American political system is in relation with similarities between ideas. But not in whole, because the phrases such as liberty, equality, democracy, individualism, unity, and diversity don’t apply to every citizen of the United States. Each has their understanding of what these phrases mean. The real problem with our government is that it is not as democratic as it should be.

The wealthy and the privileged have too much power in our political arena, and the public has too little. While it’s hard to acknowledge all that’s right with our government, we must also acknowledge what’s wrong with it. Even though we are brainwashed to acknowledge that government as a whole is good, but some things need to be fixed. The problem is that our government is now more responsive to special interests and not the people’s interest. Things that most citizens value, for example, “free college,” so that most of us won’t die in debts.Generations of Americans have worked and fought very hard to equalize citizen’s voice across the lines of income, race, and gender.

Today, however, the voices of citizens are raised and heard unequally. The privileged participate more than the unprivileged and are increasingly well organized to force their demands on government and society. Public officials, in turn, are much more responsive to the privileged than to average struggling citizens of this country, like you and me. Citizens of lower and moderate incomes voices are lost and not taken into consideration by government officials. This in-depth is the unequivocal truths. Instead of being the United States of Empires, we should be the United States that works for all Americans, equally.

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Written by

Liberian-born American Freelance Writer, Musician, Actor, Filmmaker, World Traveler, Humanitarian, Social Activist, and Producer.

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