The history of America, from the Declaration of Independence to the present, has had one consistent theme: American exceptionalism. In a lot of ways this is good — every country should primarily seek to serve its own interests so that its citizens can thrive. But this principle has been particularly strong in the U.S. as compared to the rest of the world, and it has manifested itself through the belief that America is somehow an inherently superior country and that any end that even narrowly supports our interests is morally justifiable. This principle has shaped our actions and philosophies in a wide variety of areas, from national security to economics to public safety. This belief — not just that we need to take care of ourselves, but that the U.S. is somehow better or more important than the rest of the world — harms the world at large, and it harms ourselves. It is an attitude that can and should change.
Historically, American exceptionalism has proved itself in most of the great atrocities of our history. Manifest destiny justified the displacement of Native Americans from their homes as America expanded its territory, resulting in the destruction of many cultures and the permanent crippling of any that survived. A twisted version of American exceptionalism was what allowed slavery to continue for so long. How could the superior American way of life — the southern way of life especially, but also the northern — survive without the free labor? After slavery was abolished, the exploitation of cheap labor moved to Central and South America, where banana republics rose in the 1870s so that American labor laws could be avoided. This practice continues today in the exploitation of illegal immigrants, and has even expanded to places like China, where factories making iPhones force workers to take 24-hour shifts, live in crowded dorms, take no days off and risk injury in frequently dangerous conditions.
This is a symptom of what I would term economic American exceptionalism: the idea that our comforts and luxuries, or the low price of these goods, are worth the suffering of workers in the U.S. and in other countries. A country should strive to provide its citizens with the resources to live safely, comfortably and with a reasonable degree of personal liberty. It should not use its own sense of self-importance to justify the exploitation of others to obtain extravagant wealth. If everyone in the world lived like the average American, the earth would need to be more than four times as large to provide sufficient space and resources. While there is nothing wrong with living comfortably, I take issue with our habit of ignoring the consequences that our desire for goods has on the people who produce those goods. And this willful ignorance is rooted in the belief that American prosperity and wealth is more important than the human rights of citizens of other countries.
American exceptionalism is also what fuels much of our national security issues. The U.S. needs to protect itself from armed threats to the lives and livelihoods of its citizens. But the belief that America operates under a different set of rules is how we justify retaining an arsenal of 7,700 nuclear weapons when there are only 17,300 in the entire world — and fewer than a thousand outside of the U.S. and Russia. The world could be effectively destroyed by nuclear winter with just 100 warheads like those we dropped on Hiroshima. Why do we need to have thousands? Countries like Iran are only strengthened in their resolve to acquire nuclear capabilities by our ridiculously large arsenal. But the belief we somehow have the right and responsibility to maintain such a superfluous military supremacy makes it politically impossible to discuss any reductions. American exceptionalism is also what justifies the support of dictators and oppressive regimes for our short-sighted strategic benefit in places like Egypt before the Arab Spring, which we supported in large part because they were not aggressive to Israel and assisted many of our potentially illegal programs like extraordinary rendition. We justify decisions like this with the idea that having our interests in the region protected is more important than opposing a dictator, but we fail to see these are the actions that inspire the hatred and fear of America that exists in the places that generate terrorism. The belief that America is morally exempt from its indirect oppression of the victims of the dictatorships we support is wrong, and it leads to the national security threats that supporting these regimes is supposed to help prevent.
Let me be clear: I love America, am glad I was born here and know I was very fortunate. But I don’t believe my luxuries are worth exploitative labor practices or that my security demands a ridiculous nuclear arsenal and aggressive military action. And I think moving away from beliefs and principles rooted in the idea that we are special in some way compared to the rest of the world can only improve our ability to address the many problems facing our country.
I’ve painted with a wide brush here, and made criticisms that would be difficult to address in the short term, or even the long term. But a shift in our country’s mindset and self-awareness is possible, and that is a worthy goal in itself. It may be time to start that process so we don’t keep making the same mistakes.
Forrest Brown is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily. His columns run on Thursdays.
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