Once again we are having politicians claiming American exceptionalism. In other words we are the best country in the world and anybody who denies it is unpatriotic. If you go around town claiming that you are the richest or the best-looking, will you gain many friends? Similarly, if you claim to the world that you are an exceptional nation and have the right to tell other countries how to behave, will you gain many friends, or world peace?
History is filled with countries that thought they ruled the world, or at least the part they knew. They thought they had the answer to everything and the power to bend others to their will. Where is the Persian Empire, the Roman Empire, the Aztec Empire, the Incan Empire, the Russian Empire, the Japanese Empire, the Third Reich, the Soviet Empire, or even the British Empire?
This arrogance is often that of many an Old West gunslinger. He had outdrawn and killed many men, but then one day he was killed – either by a luckier shot or by a sniper. Because of his arrogance, he had made himself a target. If lucky, old age made him a shadow of his former self.
If we are a democracy, how can we claim our President is "the Leader of the Free World"? Who elected him to that position? The minority of the eligible U.S. voters who cast their votes for the President are an even smaller minority of the citizens of the world's democracies. What qualifies an American President to know how to run the rest of the world when, more often than not, his leadership is questioned in his own country?
Two things made the U.S. great – lots of free or stolen land and a bunch of extremely well-read career politicians. The free land is all gone and today's politicians don't even read the bills they vote on.
Don't get me wrong. I like living in the United States. Having moved to Europe, I could have stayed there. But I preferred coming back to the U.S. because it is my country. To me, it doesn't have to be the "best country" or an "exceptional country"; it just is my country. My house doesn't have to be the "best house"; it is my house and I plan to stay in it for some number of years more. See "I Live in the Best House in the World" and "We're exceptional 'cause we say so".
