In America, a long-held belief in American exceptionalism is fading

For much of the 20th century, often dubbed 'The American Century,' it was an article of faith for most Americans that their country is the world’s greatest. Slowly but steadily, this has changed. It is now a minority view.

The latest in a string of polls over the past few years shows that just one in five Americans think their country stands above all others in the world. The share of those who think other countries are better than the US rose from 19 per cent in 2016 to 27 per cent now.

The cultural change reflected by these figures comes from a survey conducted by the Wall Street Journal and the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. NORC is one of the largest independent social research organisations in the US.

It found not only that the notion of American Exceptionalism is fading from the national consciousness but also a decline in a range of other values. A somewhat wistful headline over the Wall Street Journal report on the survey said: “America Pulls Back from Values That Once Defined It.”

They include, according to the survey, patriotism, religion and tolerance. Thirty-eight per cent of those polled said patriotism was very important to them, down from 70 per cent when the question was first asked in 1998. On religion, the trend was down sharply, too, from 62 to 39.

Tolerance for others, deemed very important by Americans in previous surveys, dropped from 80 per cent to 58 per cent – not surprising in a country as deeply polarised as the United States.

Bill McInturff, a pollster who worked on previous surveys, described the differences as dramatic. “It paints a new and surprising portrait of a changing America,” he told the Journal. “Perhaps the toll of our political division, Covid, and the lowest economic confidence in decades is having a startling effect on our core values.”

Only one of the core values the survey covered showed an upward swing: money. It was deemed very important by 31 per cent in 1998 and 43 per cent now. In this, and similar surveys over the past few years, young Americans (aged between 18 and 29) scored lowest on the importance they gave to the concepts that combine to the idea of exceptionalism.

They also make up the largest group of those who say that the United States is one of the world’s greatest countries, along with others.

That sober view brings to mind a response then-President Barack Obama gave at a news conference in Brussels in 2009 when asked whether he believed in American exceptionalism. “I believe in American exceptionalism, just as the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks in Greek exceptionalism.”

The remark prompted rebukes from American conservatism, who interpreted it as undermining the standing of the United States in the world.

Oddly, the idea that the United States is exceptional is rooted in the writings of a Frenchman, political scientist Alexis de Tocqueville, after travelling in America in 1831. Through much of its history, US leaders described their country in terms that echoed his notion of a special nation.

Thomas Jefferson, one of the country’s Founding Fathers, frequently referred to it as “the Empire of Liberty.” President Ronald Reagan, borrowing from a 1630 sermon, rarely missed an opportunity to talk about his country as a “shining city on a hill.” Abraham Lincoln spoke of America as “the last best hope on earth.” More recently, the late Secretary of State Madeleine Albright referred to “the indispensable nation.”

While that may have raised eyebrows, then and now, by foreigners who saw the United States in less glowing colours, there is no dispute that it played a role so dominant after the end of the Second World War that the 20th century merited being called the American Century.

In a book of that title, the late British editor and writer Harold Evans noted that “the 20th century belongs to the United States because the triumph of its faith in its founding idea of political and economic freedom.”

With China now trying to equal or surpass the United States economically and perhaps eventually militarily, the 21st century is yet to earn a superpower-specific designation.

Meanwhile, there is a flip side to the “exceptionalism” label. Call it 'Only in America.'

Only in America are there more guns than people. Only in America are there more mass shootings than days in the month. Only in America is it easier for an 18-year-old citizen in most states to buy an assault rifle than a six-pack of beer. Only in America, driven by a toxic blend of guns and fear, can you get shot for knocking on the wrong door.

Only in America can a president who lost an election convince at least a third of the population that the vote was stolen, despite abundant evidence to the contrary. And only in America do you have legislators on the far right who describe people jailed for storming the Capitol to prevent the peaceful transfer of power, as political prisoners.

Disclaimer: The views of the writer do not represent the views of WION or ZMCL. Nor does WION or ZMCL endorse the views of the writer.

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