The Danger of Exceptionalism

The post The Danger of Exceptionalism appeared first on WhoWhatWhy.

Whether it’s Barack Obama or Mike Pence, progressive firebrand Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) or staunch conservatives like Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE), there is one thing politicians from across the spectrum agree on: The United States is the greatest ever.

It’s a common theme in speeches and beer commercials — especially when Independence Day or one of the other patriotic holidays rolls around.

Americans are certainly not the first people who think they are better than others. Throughout history, and even today, it’s a belief that has been widely shared by other countries — and the behavior engendered by this belief has generally not ended well. A German proverb says that “arrogance comes before the fall” and the Germans certainly know a thing or two about thinking they were superior and how that worked out.

Even without debating the merits of the claim that the United States is the greatest nation in the history of the world, there are some obvious problems with American exceptionalism.  

Related front page panorama photo credit: Adapted by WhoWhatWhy from Donald Trump (The White House), Barack Obama (DoD / Wikimedia), Blue Angels (US Navy / Wikimedia).