American Exceptionalism

There is a concept within American culture known as exceptionalism. It is a belief that, as a country, the United States has a unique and “ordained” role and place in the world order. If this is true or not I neither know nor care. What I do see is that this philosophy breeds an arrogance that is both unearned and repulsive to other cultures in the world.

This arrogance leads to huge problems in international relations. One of those issues is present in today’s situation in Libya. U.S. politicians do not want any U.S. troops under the command of any other “foreign” military command. In a coalition such as NATO this is an extremely arrogant position to take considering that they want the sovereign forces of other countries to be subject to American command.

This my way or the highway attitude seems to pervade American culture to the core. It’s as if no ideas or products that originate outside of the country are considered to be of any value. Are American cars really better than those from outside of the country? Definitely not! Are American nuclear reactor designs superior to those of other countries? No! Is the American standard of living or quality of life the best in the world? Not even close.

This country needs a reality check.

There is a bumper sticker that says “Are you out of a job yet? Keep buying foreign.” I agree that too much manufacturing has been moved off shore and weakened the American economy but I challenge anyone who reads this to go to your local car dealers and read the content origin labels on the new cars. The so called American brands have less domestic content than many of the “imports.” One of Ford’s best selling models, the Fusion, is built in Mexico and has far less domestic (U.S. or Canadian) content than does the Honda Accord, Civic and many of the Toyotas manufactured and sold in this country.

The reality of the auto origin concept is really one of the cars being union made or not. Even that argument is not completely true. Many of the cars of the “foreign” manufacturer Mazda are union made in the Auto Union plant in Flat Rock, Michigan. If the “American” cars were truly domestic they would not but subject to the current supply chain problems due to the Japanese earthquake and Tsunami.

This is now a global world and there is no place in it for the concept of American exceptionalism. As the largest economy in the world and the strongest military power the United States must use its position in the world with humility and not arrogance. Leadership and ideas from the rest of the world must not be so quickly dismissed by the U.S. The Government and culture of this country must be more willing to listen to and accept the leadership of other governments and peoples to truly become a great power and the “greatest” country in the world.