American Exceptionalism: A Summary Evaluation

The US is the only industrialized country that does not have a strong welfare system. As a result, an alarmingly large and growing percentage of our population is poor and barely eking out a living, while millions live on the verge of going under financially, as full-time jobs are converted to part time without benefits, the minimum wage has the lowest buying power ever in constant dollars, and automation, robots, and outsourcing threaten to create a permanent jobless class.

Of all the advanced countries, our health system is the lowest in quality and availability of care, while costing more than any other by a factor of around fifty. As people age, health care costs drain their savings dry. The poor have limited access to health care and thus suffer much more from illness than the better off. If they cannot get work, they cannot afford to cook healthy meals at home and if they do get hired, often they have no time to cook. The family winds up eating cheap processed food which is full of sugar and promotes obesity and all the illnesses that accompany it. This is an intolerable situation which requires an urgent solution. Our politicians will not do this for us.

We have a spotty record on human rights which becomes clear when we look at our history of slavery, genocide of our native peoples, Jim Crow, McCarthyism, and support for foreign regimes which torture their citizens. Our police disproportionately harass and detain minorities and our agriculture depends on foreign migrant workers who are tolerated when needed and persecuted when they are not. We put large numbers of citizens in danger by allowing almost anyone to own a gun.

When compared to most countries, on balance we do well. Our economy is still huge, we have widespread home ownership, people are awash in consumer goods, and we can go about our business, home life, and worship in relative safety most of the time. We are not one of the worse countries but rather one of the best. It would seem that if we acknowledge what is good about us, we will feel good about ourselves and have confidence in our society. If we are willing to acknowledge where we fall short, we can identify what needs to be done and get to work on it. However as long as we insist on the theme of American exceptionalism, it will keep us from progressing. The choice is before us: put our heads in the sand or face the future. Commerce will not solve our problems. That's not their job. We have to do it together, and to do that we need to throw out our political class and put other people in, people whose purpose is to serve and who will listen to us rather than to those who payroll their campaigns.