American Exceptionalism

One of the great follies of "progressives" is to take America's unparalleled freedom, peace and prosperity as givens, rather than as a historical exception. Another related folly is to judge the United States according to absolute standards, rather than compare it to the behavior of other countries and cultures. This lack of perspective explain why most "progressives" are so negative in their assessment of the United States. In my classes in the School of Education, the unifying theme was how the United States was such a "racist, sexist, homophobic society" that was "in desperate need of radical reform." When in fact, no other nation in history has advanced so far in curing these ills as the United States.

The issue is not that the United States is above criticism, but those who fail to appreciate the incomparable freedom, peace and prosperity that the American way has produced, will be far less likely to understand and promote the cultural and economic policies that led to this greatness. And of course, they will be far more reckless in their drive to transform the United States based on their flawed abstract constructs. The issue is not that the United States should be frozen in time and placed beyond the reach of reform, rather those who understand the American exception will be cautious and circumspect in their efforts to remake the United States. They will understand that the unintended social and economic consequences of ill conceived reform are often far more egregious than the original object of reform.

Nothing more dramatically highlights American Exceptionalism as a comparison of the American Revolution to other major revolutions. The French, German, Russian, Turkish, Chinese, Cuban and Iranian Revolutions all left their people less free and less prosperous than before. The French revolution quickly deteriorated into terror and tyranny. In Czarist Russia, several thousand radicals languished in Siberia, the vast majority living to tell about their experiences. But, in the Soviet Union, between 1918 -1956 a minimum of 15,000,000 people were executed or suffered slow deaths in the Gulags. Under the Shah, the Evin Prison had approximately 1,500 political prisoners, but under Khomeini the number surged to 15,000 culminating in an execution of at least 4,000 political prisoners in 1988.

So, we must ask two interrelated questions: what accounts for the failures of these revolutions and the unique success of the American Revolution? Each of the said revolutions sought to increase government control over social and economic life in the name of the "greater good." Each of them assumed that the only road to progress was a strong, centralized state. On the other hand, the driving force behind the American Revolution and the evolution of the American Republic was a state limited in size and scope. Implicit in this vision was the understanding that economic and social freedom and a robust civil society based on free association were the surest roads to progress.

If more "progressives" understood the history of failed revolutions, I am certain that they would be far less reckless in their efforts to remake the United States. Rather than assault the founding principles that made us the shining light of freedom and prosperity, they would seek to preserve and expand them, only pursuing cautious, circumspect change when necessary. But as Obama has shown us, those who do not understand history, will pursue the failed paths of their predecessors.