Issues and ideas

American value$

By Bill French
Courier Staff

Americans have long distinguished themselves as being a type of exceptional creature. The self-perceived exceptionality of this creature has taken form in the nature of values upheld by American society. The very notion of this exceptionality arose out of the need for the creation of a wholly American rather than European identity. Thus, American exceptionalism has been a constructed national identity.

Originally, American exceptionalism was derived from notions of moral and philosophical superiority. Morally, Americans thought of themselves as too principled to participate in the dirty and unduly pernicious European system of balance-of-power politics. Philosophically, Americans felt themselves strongly committed to the enlightened principles which had been brewing more than a century before the Declaration of Independence.

Notable among these guiding ideas were a meritorious society over feudalism, political representation over despotism, and of course the trinity of “life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness!” Thus, the second building block of exceptionalism was America’s high-minded philosophic culture relative to the more conservative ideals prevalent in European societies and systems.

By and large, the classical spirit and much of the substance of American exceptionalism remains the same today. Some of the buzzwords may have evolved - to “freedom”, “democracy”, and “economic prosperity” for example – but American’s perceived exceptional qualities still largely remain nearly identical.

Paradoxically, after World War II the United States perceived itself as so exceptional that it had the responsibility to become the global guarantor of the philosophical values it thought to be natural human entitlements. The paradox arises out of US abandonment of isolationism in favor of sustained international involvement at the violation of its self ascribed quality of being morally above geopolitics. This caveat which played an indispensable role in necessitating the cold war continued after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Presently, we are experiencing the height of a new evolution in American exceptionalism: that we are so exceptional that not only should we defend our philosophical values where they are similarly embraced, but we should proselytize them.

American exceptionalism, however, is a social construction. This implies the question “is the United States all that exceptional?” Is the American projection of its values genuinely motivated? Given that volumes have been pontificated in attempts to settle this debate, don’t expect a satisfying answer here. Instead, I only hope to expose you to an alternative and generally unpopular answer, “No!”

Instead, the significance of American philosophical values in large part draw their significance from their extrinsic economic worth. Jefferson’s famous lauding of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” was in fact, a euphemized borrowing from John Locke who originally wrote, “life, liberty, and property’”. Additionally, the need for replacing the Articles of Confederation was an economic one. A stronger centralized federal authority was needed mostly in order to regulate and standardize inter-state commerce to ensure a more lucrative economic landscape.

This should come as no surprise. After all, a primary precipitant of the Revolutionary War was politico-economic in nature. Does “No taxation without representation!” sound familiar?

The economic worth that signifies American values attacks the myth of US idealism in foreign policy. A central tenet of Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points was freedom the seas – the means of intercontinental trade at the time. The Communist Soviet Union with its inefficient state controlled markets as well as it’s ideological opposition to capitalism made it a threat to international – and US – economic development. In 1991, overbearing US economic interest demanded interdicting the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait which threatened to destabilize the Middle Eastern oil flow. More recently, the rapid industrialization of a third of the world’s population in China and India has the potential to create demand which outstrips affordable supply in global oil markets. Where are we now? Additionally, there are the questions raised with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, but that is another article entirely.

Don’t forget about democracy. Although the true relationship between prosperous economic systems and democratic political systems is debatable, there has been a prevailing US position. American Presidents and policymakers have generally asserted that democratic societies and prosperous capitalist economies go hand-in-hand. Per this popular position among US elites, even the principle of democracy has significant links to ulterior economic motives.

So, then, is it possible that American exceptionalism is perhaps only exceptional in its self-delusion? On September 12th, 2001 the giant still slept. The nation was still dreaming of its exceptional righteousness and engaging in a masterful delusion. At what point, if not already, does this dream become a nightmare?