Good and bad make America exceptional

The United States is often described as exceptional — an “exceptional nation.” It’s a favorite expression for officeholders and those who strive to become so.

Is the description true?

I would say “yes.” But the answer is nuanced and requires some hard factual analysis.

We are THE oldest modern nation. We created a democratic republic with the American Revolution nearly 250 years ago, free of royal power, governed instead by elected officials. In subsequent years, through changes to legal codes and amendments to the Constitution, we extended the voting franchise and full citizenship to those denied it in the original creation.

Those developments make us exceptional in our own eyes and abroad as well. There’s no question we’ve made great progress, both in our prosperity and in the ongoing extension of civil and human rights to our population. Most Americans enjoy a standard of living envied around the world. Millions of migrants endure brutal conditions on foot over hundreds of miles, seeking entry somehow into the U.S. and its promise of a better life.

But we’re also exceptional for less admirable reasons:

• The top 1% of America’s earners own more wealth than the nation’s entire middle class, who represent the middle 60% of American earners.
• Americans own more guns than the next several highest ranking countries combined.
• Our history is pockmarked by conquering, subduing, and/or enslaving peoples and territories that American citizens desired to dominate and use for self-serving reasons.

Those undeniable facts, and others, are part of America’s exceptionalism, like them or not.

On the other hand, we have much to be proud of.

• We finally eradicated black slavery within our borders.
• We played a key role in the 20th Century in overthrowing dictatorships bent on conquest.
• We amended our Constitution often enough over the years to keep up with the needs of a changing society.
• We engineered scientific and technological innovations that advanced the quality of life for our citizens and those of nations around the world.

The good and the bad — they’re both part of American exceptionalism. To deny the existence of one or the other belies our history. To advance the American experiment we need to see, clear-eyed, both strands of our nation’s tapestry, and to teach the entire truth to those growing up in America.

Rick Morain is a reporter and columnist with the Jefferson Herald.