Why America & Americans are Exceptional?

Why America & Americans are Exceptional?

In the September of 2013, President Barack Obama claimed while addressing the United Nations that America and Americans are exceptional because of certain, special traits. Russian President Vladimir Putin and other World leaders laughed and questioned the validity of that claim. The best way to settle such an issue is to lay the facts and let them speak by themselves.

On July 4, 1876, America’s 100th birthday - Lawyer, Preeminent Agnostic, and The Great Orator Robert Ingersoll, articulated thus:

• One hundred years ago, our fathers retired the Gods from politics; The Declaration of Independence is the grandest, the bravest, and the profoundest political document that was ever signed by the representatives of a people. It is the embodiment of physical and moral courage and of political wisdom.

• For the first time in the history of the world, the representatives of a nation, the representatives of a real, living, breathing, hoping people, declared that all men are created equal. With one blow, with one stroke of the pen, they struck down all the cruel, heartless barriers that aristocracy, that priest-craft, that king-craft had raised between man and man. They struck down with one immortal blow that infamous spirit of caste that makes a God almost a beast, and a beast almost a god. With one word, with one blow, they wiped away and utterly destroyed, all that had been done by centuries of war - centuries of hypocrisy - centuries of injustice.

• Our fathers founded the first secular government that was ever founded in this world. Recollect that. The first secular government; the first government that said every church has exactly the same rights, and no more; every religion has the same rights, and no more. In other words, our fathers were the first men who had the sense, who had the genius, to know that no church should be allowed to have a sword; that it should be allowed only to exert its moral influence.

• The rights of all are equal: justice, poised and balanced in eternal calm, will shake from the golden scales in which are weighed the acts of men, the very dust of prejudice and caste: No race, no color, no previous condition, can change the rights of men.

That political wisdom of the founders as captured in America’s Constitution has proven itself million and million times over and come true by creating a “True civilization in which every man gives to every other every right that he claims for himself.” Earlier, the British, Roman, and the Greek empires were self-centered and did not afford the same rights to every other citizen of the republic as we Americans do. This self-centeredness with a closed system in fact resulted into the demise of those powers; one reason experts believe America’s Open-System policies will prolong its Superpower status.

So, why is America Exceptional?

Like other great powers, America too created its own remarkable history. Unlike other powers whose main aim was subjugation and exploitation of weaker peoples and their riches – America’s founding was to do more with freedom. Liberty, as in Statue of Liberty, is the America’s foremost mantra.

Custodians of Freedom and champions of Democracy ever since they established theirs back in 1776 - Americans liberated themselves by defeating the British forces in the 1700s and in due course of time they freed the Slaves in 1863, under the president-ship of Abraham Lincoln. They freed Europe from German (Hitler) Forces in 1945 and since then have assumed the mantle of World-Peace.

The emancipation of the blacks by the steadfast Abraham Lincoln puts him in a unique freedom fighter category. Freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi used his own kind (Indians) to fight the other kind (British) to win freedom for his own kind (Indians). Who would not die for freeing their brethren and countrymen from extreme atrocities showered by a foreign power?

On the other hand - Lincoln used mostly all whites’ forces or the so-called Yankees of the North to defeat the Southern whites’ (aka Confederacy) in the brutal American Civil War to free the black slaves. It is estimated close to 617,000 white Americans died in the ruthless civil war to end slavery. This is the single most reason based upon which I would rank Abraham Lincoln over Gandhi as the number one freedom fighter of all times, leaving aside the direct messengers of God like Jesus, Mohammad, Buddha, Guru Nanak, and so on.

In the same spirit and now for almost a century - The Unites States has been successful in establishing World-Peace by shedding its own blood abundantly and giving away their fortune. With the exception of minor hot spots in the Middle-East (Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Israel-Palestinian battles, ISIS, etc.) or Iran/North Korea Nuclear standoff, Ukraine, etc. – there is nothing that compares or rises to the dire times of World War-II. The peace lid has been shut tight so far.

Exceptionalism of America and Americans is rooted in several principles and policies, and not just limited to the following:

- Foremost, Americans are Freedom lovers and will die for it as no other.

- Americans fight for Justice, Law and Equality for all

- They are the most charitable as a People and Country (Ranked #1 by Charity Aid Foundation)*

- Are most inclusive with an Open-System to embrace everyone legally possible.

- Have most Freedom to pursue any Religion; Freedom to pursue Happiness

- Have most Freedom for Businesses and Markets (Laissez-faire)

- the List is rather long to mention them all here --------

No wonder people call America, The God’s Country!

With God’s blessings and wisdom of principles and policies America’s founders adopted – all of that gave rise to Economic/Military/Political/Diplomatic/Technology/Financial dominance and success of unimaginable proportions to make it the one and only Superpower now for over fifty years.

The euphoria of success did inject some insolence into the country; we earned the epithet of “Ugly American” since the mid-1900. I would venture to say that that ugliness renders Americans even more notable and special. What is remarkable is after all that huge success - the ugly Americans kept their System open for everyone and did not shut the doors like the Britishers/Romans/Greeks did when success hit them in the head.

For some time now, the media has been abuzz with predictions of America fading away and China replacing it as the next Superpower. That is just the buzz; the fact is other countries, including the Dragon, are simply catching up because of our munificence in sharing the hard earned riches and creative technologies/inventions with everyone.

This same exceptionalism will not allow the hardworking and creative Americans to subjugate themselves to any power or the new Superpower; they will die before that happens! America and Americans, by example of an extremely successful political and economic experiment, have proven beyond doubt that they are truly exceptional.

Is there any other way to define this term [Exceptional]?

Dave Anand (danand5@aol.com), a technologist, has written and published two books: “People Super Highway, the Mystique & Quest of Soul” and “The Verses.”

*2011 World Giving Index: US Ranked Most Charitable Country on Earth: The United States climbed from fifth place to the rank of most generous country in the world, according to Charity Aid Foundation. The United Kingdom is the eighth most charitable nation in the world while the world’s fastest growing major economies - China and India - rank among the least altruistic. India stood at 134th position and China at 147th with Chinese people among the least likely on the planet to volunteer; only 4% said they would. The U.S. has increased its charity by 3 percentage points in this year, up to $212 billion.

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