What is American exceptionalism? Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh first defines it by what it's not. It's not that we are better people or more superior. It is not that we are smarter people. It is not that God loves us more or prefers us more than anyone else. American exceptionalism has nothing to do with anything but freedom and liberty. The history of the world has been dominated by tyranny and slavery. The vast majority of human beings that have ever lived, have lived under the tyranny of despots. America was the first to break that cycle. For the first time in human history a government and nation was founded on the belief that leaders serve the population. Ronald Reagen said it best, "In this country of ours, took place the greatest revolution that has
ever taken place in world’s history. The only true revolution. Every
other revolution simply exchanged one set of rulers for another. But
here for the first time in all the thousands of years of man’s relation
to man, a little group of the men, the founding fathers for the first
time – established the idea that you and I had within ourselves the God
given right and ability to determine our own destiny."America became the exception to the rule, and that is what makes us exceptional.
Political commentator Bill Whittle demonstrates four ways in which America has been exceptional, militarily, economically, scientifically, and culturally. The superiority of any nation can be gauged by the strength of it's military and the America military remains the most powerful military in the world, bar none. Economically America produces 24% of the world's Gross Domestic Product. Individually America produces 14$ billion in GDP, compared with China that produces $4.9 billion with triple the population. The American dollar remains the world's premier reserve currency. America gives more aide than any other country. In 2011 America gave 4.6$ Billion in humanitarian aid, more than EU institutions, The UK, Japan and Sweden combined. China gave a dismal $38 Million in 2010. Scientifically America has produced 75 million research papers from 1996-2008, four times as many as the runner up. The United States has more Nobel Prize winners than any other country. Some of the most important inventions of the modern age were invented in America including the light bulb, the telephone, personal computers, the atomic bomb, the internet, the airplane, the assembly line, and the Polio vaccine among many others. Last but not least American pop culture has been exported to every corner of the globe. The top 50 movies of all time are American. And the top seven best selling music albums are American.
America is unique in that the first time in history people fought for independence in the name of certain universal principles such as human rights and civil liberties. Believing that inalienable rights did not come from men, who could take away such rights, but from the creator. They believed the government exists to serve the people and not the other way around. Unlike many modern revolutions it wasn't fought because of economic deprivation or because of an oppressed class against the elite. our Founders gave birth to the greatest constitutional Republic the world has ever known. It's in Democracies like those in Europe where citizens receive their rights from government.
Britain, Germany, Spain, etc. don't have a Declaration of Independence or a Bill of Rights that defines the God given rights received at birth as in the United States. This is the fundamental difference between America and democratic governments worldwide. In these nations, birth doesn't entitle the citizen any right outside of what the government has granted. And what's given can always be taken away.
It's American exceptionalism that helped the Allies win World War 2, that put a man on the moon, that brought down the Berlin Wall, and that created the most powerful nation in less than 200 years from it's inception. If we cease to think of ourselves as exceptional then what is left but mediocrity.
Political commentator Bill Whittle demonstrates four ways in which America has been exceptional, militarily, economically, scientifically, and culturally. The superiority of any nation can be gauged by the strength of it's military and the America military remains the most powerful military in the world, bar none. Economically America produces 24% of the world's Gross Domestic Product. Individually America produces 14$ billion in GDP, compared with China that produces $4.9 billion with triple the population. The American dollar remains the world's premier reserve currency. America gives more aide than any other country. In 2011 America gave 4.6$ Billion in humanitarian aid, more than EU institutions, The UK, Japan and Sweden combined. China gave a dismal $38 Million in 2010. Scientifically America has produced 75 million research papers from 1996-2008, four times as many as the runner up. The United States has more Nobel Prize winners than any other country. Some of the most important inventions of the modern age were invented in America including the light bulb, the telephone, personal computers, the atomic bomb, the internet, the airplane, the assembly line, and the Polio vaccine among many others. Last but not least American pop culture has been exported to every corner of the globe. The top 50 movies of all time are American. And the top seven best selling music albums are American.
America is unique in that the first time in history people fought for independence in the name of certain universal principles such as human rights and civil liberties. Believing that inalienable rights did not come from men, who could take away such rights, but from the creator. They believed the government exists to serve the people and not the other way around. Unlike many modern revolutions it wasn't fought because of economic deprivation or because of an oppressed class against the elite. our Founders gave birth to the greatest constitutional Republic the world has ever known. It's in Democracies like those in Europe where citizens receive their rights from government.
Britain, Germany, Spain, etc. don't have a Declaration of Independence or a Bill of Rights that defines the God given rights received at birth as in the United States. This is the fundamental difference between America and democratic governments worldwide. In these nations, birth doesn't entitle the citizen any right outside of what the government has granted. And what's given can always be taken away.
It's American exceptionalism that helped the Allies win World War 2, that put a man on the moon, that brought down the Berlin Wall, and that created the most powerful nation in less than 200 years from it's inception. If we cease to think of ourselves as exceptional then what is left but mediocrity.
