The Natural Exceptionality of Americans

Americans are an exceptional people.  We don’t think that gives us license, but it does give us cause for pride.  It ought to give others reason to pause.  We are graced with this exceptionality by the culture we created from being a frontier people.  Our ancestors were the ones who left the security of the known for a land that offered two things, both in extraordinary abundance: toil and opportunity.  We have precious little patience for those who are not willing to accept both of those.

 I am guilty of the hubris of thinking that being an American is better than being from any other country.  That does not equal imperialist ambitions.   We would do nothing but adulterate out strength and character by acquiring additional territory.  Neither do I think that we are better intellectually than other people.  I know that genius and inventive acumen are equally distributed throughout the human population.  That means, by the way, that the third world countries are an intellectual landscape lying fallow through economic deprivation.  We need to do something about that. 

So why do I give a moral edge to being an American?  Because of who we are, and what we do.  We have the longest living democracy in the world.  We are the first European-based country to elect a President of shared African descent.  We have become a world power without trying to.  In fact, the one characteristic that seems to define our relationship with the rest of the world is, “Don’t tread on me.”  Leave us alone and we will most likely leave you alone.  For example, the Taliban were committing atrocities against its women and enslaving its people under a corruption of Islamic law for years with Americans doing nothing other than clicking their tongues before they attacked us on 9-11.  We were quite willing to let those beasts mistreat their people up to the point where they involved us in their excess.  Pity the fools.

Americans have consistently tried to expand only to the natural boundaries of our continent.  Alaska and Hawaii are the only exceptions to that.  We don’t want Mexico or Canada.  I would be happy to have us cut Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands free.  We probably need to keep Guam, nature’s gas station in the Pacific, but other than these vestigial remnants of a sea faring military we did not colonize the way other nations have.

Our economic clout is the natural outgrowth of our free market economy, and will last as long as that economy is allowed to work with as little interference as possible.  Historically, we have simply tried to make a personal and national income and did it so well that after World War II America was in a position to lead the world in reconstruction.  Since part of the American character is an attitude of, “charity for all” we were willing to help.  But, the key was in our goal.  We didn’t provide assistance to make other cultures a part of America.  We gave aid to get war torn countries on their feet so they could get on with their lives and we could get the hell out. 

It is good to love the country you come from and respect the culture that made you.  But if you weighed the good and bad characteristics of every country, I am convinced that the scales would come down strongly in favor of the United States of America as the best place to live. 

We are an exceptional people and will be as long as we keep the faith.