We cringe when we hear an American politician or pundit speak of American Exceptionalism. The problem isn't that America isn't great, it's that the hubris and self aggrandizement tends to be used as an excuse for our shortcomings or to pander to voters. Moreover, these same pandering politicians and pundits tend to credit America's greatness to our political, economic and social system that provides "the American Dream". In the "American Dream" anyone can start at the bottom of the social or economic ladder and work their way to the very top of society. At The-Party-For-Common-Sense.org it is our belief that the real greatness with America lies not necessarily entirely within the social and political environment, but rather with the hard work applied through American's "can-do" attitude, a result of waves of immigration. In this essay we'll deal with the dangers of American Exceptionalism and the actual root causes, and how we can avoid witnessing the peak and beginning decline of America greatness.

Conservatives like to say that America is Exceptional and that President Obama and other liberals embarrassed by the hubris of calling ourselves exceptional are simply "apologists". However, many of these Conservatives are using Exceptionalism as an excuse. After all, everyone likes to hear they are great, and if we are truly great and that greatness is innate, the logical conclusion is that success is achievable without hard work - after all if we're told were number one and destiny states we will continue to remain number one, there is no need to apply ourselves. Liberals see this "destiny" argument as being the same hubris that got us in trouble overestimating our military capabilities in Afghanistan and Iraq. Having too much faith in one's capabilities can be more dangerous than having self esteem issues. By putting oneself in a truly dangerous situation and by substituting confidence in lieu of the hard work and planning, one can put themselves at great risk. One need to look no farther than the Iraq post-war planning. Our leaders were so confident that we would be greeted as liberators and heroes, that anyone in the Administration that suggested post war planning was considered a fifth column defeatist. Prudence and planning was cast aside for hubris and a sense of destiny.

We must also be careful tossing around the label of "exceptionalism". As an example, take an athlete. Any athlete can call themselves number one, but the label tends to be empty and hollow. Proving that one is number one by winning competitions or by being voted by your fellow athletes as Most Valuable Player (MVP) carries much more weight. One needs to earn the title, not just bestow it on one's self. In America, there are a number of areas where we are number one, but there are a number of areas where we are not. A politician pronouncing America Exceptional may provide some comfort to the electorate, but it doesn't change the facts on the ground. Sure we still have the largest and most powerful military in the world, but we also are continually berated for falling academic scores. In the world of business, the US dollar remains the currency of choice and English the language of choice. Why? In part luck - we emerged from two World Wars relatively unscathed with a stable economy and political system that was largely unseen in other Western countries. But it was also a result of having worked hard to develop the largest and most desirable economy in the world. Anyone wanting to do business with America did so in dollars and in English - meaning it became a common denominator among other countries wishing to trade between themselves. This status of having international trade dominated in dollars and international commerce done in English is not a result of some American politician or pundit declaring Dollars and English as being number one, rather a result of being more useful to world citizens. Exceptionalism is a result of hard work, and should not be used an excuse to avoid hard work. Nor should we shy when others look to the US for leadership, however, that leadership has to be genuine, and not forced upon others.

The logic question to be asked is: What makes America exceptional? Americans are humans, with all the strengths and weaknesses of every other human being on earth - so why is that we are able to succeed in so many areas? There are those that simply say "we are God's chosen people". That somehow, an American carbon based life form is superior to one born elsewhere. At The-Party-For-Common-Sense.org we reject this "destiny" argument. A number of politicians and pundits state that the America is Exceptional because we have a unique system that allows for the American Dream - the concept that anyone can go from the bottom of the economic ladder and rise to reach great economic heights. The belief is that we have created a unique set of laws and environment that makes it possible for someone to achieve these great heights. Obviously, there are places in the world where the economics and political limitations prevent someone from reaching their potential. They are born to the wrong group, the wrong sex, the wrong tribe, or believe in the wrong religion. Whatever the cause, they are forcibly repressed and unable to access the resources they need to reach their full potential. There are bits of Americana that do assist people - the ease of creating a company, the ability to fail and start over, and number 22 of the 178 countries in Transperancy International's Corruption Preception Index¹. However, there are other places in the world where people do have the opportunity to move up in the economic ladder. In fact, one could argue it might even be easier. Take Europe, where children pick their academic concentration when they enter high school. By making these vocational choices earlier, children with potential are able to surround themselves with like minded children and are put in an environment where they can be challenged and develop their skills earlier and more fully. Here in America, this concept is just beginning to be manifested in the form of magnet schools. In addition, another disturbing trend in America is the reduction in investment in public education. The budget crisis in the US is trending towards massive cuts to public education, Pell Grants, and colleges. Compare the hit-and-miss availability of financial support for higher education in America, versus the European socialist model - where the university, provided you can get in, is available to any student. So if it isn't necessarily specific social and political systems that enable the American Dream, what is it?

At The-Party-For-Common-Sense.org we'd argue it isn't that people can achieve their full potential, it is that they try to reach their full potential. The people that came to America were the people that were willing to leave the safety and security of their family, friends, and culture - all to improve the lot of themselves, their families, and their decedents. Whether it was people fleeing persecution, war, or famine, these were people who were unable to simply accept their fate and were willing to take changes to improve their position in life. These are the same traits that get people to work within a system to achieve their full potential. Rather than be satisfied with the status of life they were born to, they take risks and attempt to improve their situation, whether it be by going to college or by starting a company.

As with America's ability to dominate world business, luck combined with hard work is partly to be credited for this can-do culture. If we are to believe the scientific theories, the earliest European visitors to America brought with them diseases such as small pox that Native Americans were unable to cope - resulting in virtually wiping out the Native American population prior to our permanent arrival on the continent. If so, it presented a unique opportunity. With vast lands and resources, waves of immigrations have, and continue to occur. Each brings with it a different type of person, however with certain traits in common: someone who is willing to sacrifice safety and security to brave long travel and great risks to move to the New World in an effort to create a better life for themselves and their offspring. Each wave brings in people who are adventuresome, hardworking, and innovative. They, and their offspring, are the next wave of entrepreneurs and industrious laborers that keep American in forefront of global competition. Even those that have been here for generations are pushed to keep up. Like a new kid on a sports team pushes the veterans to work harder, new immigrants keep pushing existing Americans to work harder and be more competitive. One could look at this as a matter of fate: God has been good enough to gift us these attributes, others could look it as by design, but either way, as Alexis de Tocqueville described in his 1835 study of America Democracy in America, Americans do have a unique character all their own. Although we may be more inclined to be more industrious and to take risks, ultimately our success is due to hard work. So our character and optimism provide a basis for exceptionalism, but do not on their own make us exceptional.

In response to the Conservatives, as when one getting elected most valuable player (MVP) on a team or someone winning the gold medal in a competition, it is perfectly OK to accept accolades and take a bow for a job well done. There is nothing shameful about having pride in America and t show one's patriotism, but we should be careful that we don't bestow undue honors on ourselves. In fact, doing so is often an excuse to avoid making realistic assessment of one's capabilities. Rather than doing the hard work and making the changes to fix our failing schools, it's much easier to believe politicians when they tell us we are great and destiny will fix our schools for us. Or when politicians tell us we don't need to plan for a post-war Iraq. Or any other of other number of failings.

So, how do we maintain this exceptionalism? At The-Party-For-Common-Sense.org we believe there three elements to ensuring that the new millennium wasn't the peak of American power.

1. Protect the elements of our social and political system that lend themselves towards making available the America Dream. We must continue to be vigilant against corruption or against changes in our social and political system that put up hurdles that prevent people from reaching their full potentials. Ensuring that we continue to invest in public universities, for example, to continue to provide an opportunity for those who can and want to become high achievers.
2. Reject xenophobic tendencies. It is actually the can-do attitude of America that has Americans push themselves. To maintain this we must continue to be accepting of new immigrants, those that want to come to America and achieve their limits. With the good comes the bad, but even with when the Italian mob followed the waves of Italian immigrants, it was an entrepreneurial mobster that saw a franchise opportunity when the Boss asked for volunteers to go to America to protect the mob's interests in America.
3. Finally, we must reject the temptation of those that have reached the upper echelons of economic and social success to throw down barriers, to protect what they have. For example, since 1992 the bottom 90 percent of Americans have seen their incomes rise by 13 percent in 2009 dollars, compared with an increase of 399 percent for the top 400.² I do believe that "greed is good" as Gordon Gecko of the movie Wall Street would say. It would be a waste of talent if people, once they achieved a comfortable lifestyle and mediocre success, simply stopped working. Rather by using dollars as a way of keeping score, they continue to work and contribute to society. However, we should recognize the difference between the value of continued hard work, and that of preferential tax treatments which allow the rich to grow richer, while shouldering the burden of higher tax rates and running the government on middle class. We as a society don't let unfettered capitalism to occur. Capitalism is, essentially, economic Darwinism. Economic survival of the fittest. Two companies do battle and one survives and becomes stronger and the other disappears. The logical conclusion is a monopoly (or duopoly), where one company comes out on top and uses their superior position to squash any upstart competition. However, as a society, we have found the competition to be where the real value lies - not the crowning of a winner. Therefore we have chosen to enact anti-trust laws to prevent any one company from dominating an industry (if this were the board game Monopoly, the winner would bankrupt the other players and control the entire board). Likewise within our society. Having a few ultra-wealthy and then everyone else isn't a healthy balance. Right now, the rich help dictate the rules and they pay only 16% taxes, while the middle class pays a much higher rate. So the rich get richer and the middle class gets poorer. If the Estate Tax is completely wiped out and wealth or income based taxes are replaced by "use" taxes, the rich will have succeeded in using their position to enact barriers that prevent others from joining their rarified atmosphere and it is society's job to ensure that barriers are removed and mobility is maintained.

At The-Party-For-Common-Sense.org, we would proscribe humility, hard work, continued immigration, and a vigilance to ensure we maintain a system that provides the frictionless movement between rungs on the economic and social latter. We'd like to think that America's best years lie in front of it. But as President Obama stated in France when a British reported asked if he believed in American exceptionalism, Mr. Obama responded that he did, but with an often derided qualifier: "just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism." We may have been blessed with certain circumstances, but these are also of our own making. It’s up to Americans to decide if they are going to continue to grow and be great, or put up barriers and hunker down for a long, slow decline.

---

Sources

¹ Transparency International's 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index
² http://www.tax.com/taxcom/features.nsf/Articles/0DEC0EAA7E4D7A2B852576CD00714692?OpenDocument