American Exceptionalism Still Exists, Apparently

IDR Institute

It's becoming increasingly apparent that American exceptionalism is to be the U.S.A. 's  bane. Excuses are a must to be made; admitting that systemic racism has always been integral to this country, or reflecting on the harrowing 180k+ death toll brought on by the Coronavirus pandemic, means that America isn't the perfect country its most loyal patriots claim it is. Rather than acknowledge the red flags, these exceptionalists bend over backwards with warped justifications of the American past, present, and future. 

American exceptionalism has thrived under the Trump administration—several times now it has been made glaringly apparent that the president himself is a staunch believer. His xenophobic attacks against "the Squad" (the name attributed to the four freshman congresswomen Tlaib, Pressley, Ocasio-Cortez, and Omar) on Twitter last June are, for lack of a better word, perfect examples: He calls the United States "the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth", writing immediately before that the various countries of origin of "The Squad" have "governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all)". The blatant contempt President Trump carries for these countries he terms "shithole countries" is practically a textbook definition of what it means to believe in American exceptionalism.

The President most definitely isn't alone with these sentiments he so brashly proclaims. The Heritage Foundation recently published an article where they praise Trump for calling on the addition of American exceptionalism to K-12 history curriculums, claiming the reason for a dip in patriotism among youth is due to decreases in their test performance, as opposed to their increased exposure to racist and just generally concerning rhetoric from the highest levels of government. This naive assumption by THF is just another contribution to the larger issue at hand: The attempt being made by mostly right-wingers to ignore the problematic history of the United States, instead scapegoating movements like BLM and ANTIFA.

The aforementioned point THF made regarding the necessary prioritization of American exceptionalism in student curriculums must also warrant the discussion of how history textbooks are already promoting this idea of the United States being nothing short of a utopia. Slavery is affirmed to be something of the past (ignoring its modern day replacement, the prison industrial complex) and racism is recalled with the Civil Rights Act of 1965. THF might believe that students are learning to hate the United States through their exposure to its past, but if anything, they're taught from a young age that America is the best place to live on Earth. As much as THF thinks American exceptionalism is missing from the education system, it really never left.

But perhaps the biggest issue with American exceptionalism is that it virtually diminishes the struggle marginalized citizens have been dealing with in the United States for centuries, all by uplifting white supremacist idealogies. 

Imperialism is excused under the premise that the United States had no choice but to step in and save the country in question from destruction—further perpetuating the white savior mindset—and third world countries and their laborers are exploited without a second glance to their inhumane wages. This is all brushed off with little consideration: after all, a country as powerful as the United States should be standing up for its impoverished and undeveloped peers.

If the RNC was any indication, The Trump administration has done nothing but propagate American exceptionalism. Systematic racism and police brutality were casually brushed off as Democrat propaganda, with the likes of Nikki Haley (the former governor of South Carolina) going so far as to say America is not a racist country. 

The issue doesn't lie with conservatives being cognizant of how problematic American history has been and will continue to be; the majority of them are well aware. It is this awareness, however, that becomes dangerous, considering Americans are more divided now than they have been in years. Being aware means nothing if the United States continues to be hailed as the most exceptional country on Earth, and over 180,000 of its people are dead because of a pandemic.

Of course, the argument can be made that Americans enjoy a high standard of living, and this is correct. Make no mistake, living in the United States is no punishment, considering diversity is everywhere to be found and the education system is arguably the best in the world. But do these factors make America completely unique and extraordinary?

Perhaps the United States is unique: it's one of the only places in the world where the President can claim racism to be a relic of the past, all the while black people are shot by police, their crime being the color of their skin. The Heritage Foundation calls for a return of American exceptionalism to curriculums—let's teach students just how distinctive the USA is, starting with systematic racism, mass incarceration, and the military/prison industrial complex.