A Discussion on American Exceptionalism

American exceptionalism is the idea or the notion that the United States is the greatest country in the world and occupies a unique position above all the other countries. The United States is considered politically exceptional because of its rich democratic history. Our founding fathers spent a lot of time writing the constitution so everyone can have equal rights and freedom, and not have a nation that is run by a dictator. The United States politically consists of separation and balance of power between public and private as well as personal freedom and economic freedom which is not displayed in many countries across the globe. When the constitution was written in 1787, our founding fathers made very smart decisions in giving people freedom and rights.

They didn't spend their time writing the constitution for no reason; they wrote it so there wouldn't be a totalitarian government and that people will have their rights. They chose to go towards democracy. The constitution stated that the government should be separated into 3 branches so there wouldn't be a domination of power. The Bill of Rights was also created to secure basic rights of people such as, freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of religion and the right to have fair trial to see if your convicted of guilty or not. These amendments on the Bill of Rights are for our benefit. Let's say America was not democratic and had a communist government just like China or Cube where it was a dictatorship. Only one person is ruling the nation, that person has all the power, he is in control. When the ruler passes away or is killed, what would happen next? There is no one else next in line to run. This happened very much in the past decade; most recently in the past couple years, throughout the Middle East where the dictators were overthrown in countries such as Egypt, Libya and Syria.

The military was ruling the government, the countries were in extreme chaos, and there was no order. Democracy balances everything out. People vote for whoever they want, they have a choice. Manifest Destiny is another example of American exceptionalism. Manifest Destiny states that it's the god given right for the United States to expand westward. Albert K. Weinberg, defines Manifest Destiny as "in essence the doctrine that one nation has a preeminent social worth, a distinctively lofty mission, and consequently, unique rights in the application of moral principles" (Weingberg). Exceptionalism is seen in Manifest Destiny because since it's the god given right for the United States to expand westward in the New World and has been singled out above all nations. North America represented the land of opportunities such as economic and social. In Matthew Spalding's article, he quotes Thomas Jefferson, who is one of our founding fathers, "The mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, and ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God" (Spalding). This quote in other words means the govemment of our society and independence is the government principle.

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Matthew Spalding states that America is exceptional "unlike any nation, it is dedicated to the principles of human liberty, grounded on the truths that all men are created equal and endowed with equal rights" (Spalding). He basically means that we as people are created as one and no one in the world is better and bigger than us and won't ever be. The United States' exceptionalism is also seen in the fact that the government provides and makes it easier for people in need. Some things provided are healthcare, welfare and unemployment checks. According to Victor G. Rodwin, "The United States is the only industrially advanced nation with over 15 percent of its population uninsured for health care services" (Rodwin). Even though this is somewhat of a bad thing, it creates anouher notion of American exceptionalism in the way that the United States is different from all the other nations.

Despite healthcare, welfare and unemployment checks are what makes the United States stand out. Households with low incomes receive welfare which helps them with basic needs such as groceries and medicine. The government sends food steps to households with low income to help the families out. The coast of the food stamp program has more than quadrupled over the past decade. Between the years 2000 and 2011, the cost has gone up from S19.8 billion to $84.6 billion (Spalding). This is a major change and it makes the U.S. stand out. Also, during hard times like this where the unemployment rate is so high up, people out of work receive unemployment checks. All these makes the United States exceptional from all the other nations, the United States is different and is unique. Even though many believe the United States is exceptional, other such as E.L. Doctorow may disagree. E.L. Doctorow's article is written to achieve unexceptionalism. People accuse others who look like terrorists and also treat immigrants as criminals. This is a violation of the Eight Amendment of the Constitution, which prohibits the infliction of cruel and unusual punishment (Doctorow).

Most immigrants obey the laws and the rule but are seen as criminals. People cannot be judged by their looks. You can't just look at a person and tell whether or not that person is bad and treat them like a criminal when they are not. One major thing is using the state of war as justification, order secret surveillance of American citizens, data mine their phone calls and e-mail, make business, medical and public library records available to govemment agencies perform illegal warrantless searches of homes and offices. The author wrote this as unexceptionalism because its steps toward that will lead to exceptionalism. Those who say America is unexceptionalism are just blaming the laws that were. It's like they are saying that there rights aren't protected enough. Doctorow makes a very good point in his article how the United States is not exceptional from all the other nations. In this society with economic problems the government doesn't want to hire more security to have the people in the America to remain calm and restore order in peace. Some people may say that America should not be considered politically exceptional however; many people think that it should. Without the rights we have today, there would be nothing but chaos.

Works Cited

1. Dale, Helle. "What Makes America Exceptional? Hint: It Is Not Social Security." TheFoundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation. N.p., 5 Sept.2012. Web. 11 Oct. 2012, <http://blog.heritage.org/2012/09/05/what-makes-america-exceptional-hint-it-is-not-social-security/>.
2. Doctorow, E. L. "OPINION; Unexceptionalism: A Primer." The New York Times. TheNew York Times, 29 Apr. 2012. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.
   http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/opinion/sunday/unexceptionalism-a-primer.html2Friedman, Uri. "Foreign Policy Magazine." Foreign Policy. N.p., 4 Sept. 2012. Web. 11Oct. 2012.<http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/09/04/democratic._platform_swaps american
   exceptionalism for_indispensable_nation.
3. Rodwin, Victor G. "American Exceptionalism in the Health Sector." AmericanExceptionalism in the Health Sector. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.<http://www.nyu.edu/projects/rodwin/american.html>.

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