The Unexpected Facts of American Exceptionalism

From the original Fourth of July to now, America played a unique and exceptional role in world affairs. Some claim America has a divine right. Others claim the American people are uniquely special. And war hawks claim America is unique because of its righteous military. Oddly, many on the Left reject the concept altogether or irrationally focus on racial inequalities¹.

But whatever your political background, America’s role in world history, economics, wars, innovation, and personal freedom is undeniable. To celebrate Independence Day, let’s take a look at some lesser known attributes that truly distinguished the United States and continue to make this nation unique and special.

People

The Left hates this subject. The idea that some people are better than others drives the Left crazy. But this is such a well established biological fact, that it is impossible to ignore. Height, strength, intelligence, speed, looks, personality and many more are strongly correlated to genetics. To ignore this, it is to ignore the everyday world around us. But what does generics have to do with American exceptionalism? Easy: braindrain.

Even prior to 1776, the New World represented opportunity. And lots of it. You don’t risk your life, reputation, fortune, and safety if you are just one of the masses. It takes a special person to leave the Old World behind to seek a new start. So, just getting to the United States put you into a special category, regardless of your background.

Economic Freedom

If brain drain really happened, then there must be some sort of evidence². Otherwise, it is just speculation. Thankfully, that is trivial to show. Just about every major invention is American: the light bulb, motion pictures, barb wire, the assembly line, the telephone, the typewriter, and so many others. Even the first nuclear bomb was American.

It was no accident that these inventions took place in American, even though many of the inventors were 1st or 2nd generation immigrants. Personal freedom, lack of taxes, lack of regulations, and ability to own property in the United States was unparalleled. And economic statistics back this fact. The easiest way to measure economic freedom is GDP per person.

By this measure, America was world champ by the end of the 1800s and would dominate for more than 50 years³. When aggregated at the national level, America outproduced everybody, even those with global empires like France and Britain. Unfortunately, the progressive era ended America’s economic uniqueness and now its freedom index is a lowly 25th place⁴.

Religion

The best way to measure freedom is by economic freedom. However, there is more to life than just economics. Here America was truly outstanding and led the world for over a hundred years⁵. While Europeans were slaughtering one another, America was the safe haven for fleeing religious persecution. The Puritans were the most well known, but groups from all over Europe immigrated⁶.

The legacy of religious freedom is still with us today. America routinely leads the world in donations to charity(per capita), via mostly faith-based organizations⁷. Although religion is on the decline, America remains unusually religious compared to other affluent nations⁸.

Statistics aside, religious freedom is important to personal well being. Groups that were murdering one another lived peacefully side-by-side once in America (relatively speaking). Protestants, Catholics, Jews and, more recently, Muslims lived together without fear of discrimination or persecution. This one attribute alone greatly contributed to American Exceptionalism. Without it, the Thirteen Colonies would have been unremarkable settlements in a strange and foreign land.

Free Trade Zone

Probably one of the least discussed, but most unique aspects of life in the US is the separation of power between the states and the federal government. Specifically, the Commerce Clause which explicitly prevented states from protectionist policies⁹. Whether by design or by flaw, this clause created the world’s largest free trade zone.

I always find it funny when people brag that the US never (really) had colonies like Europe. But this isn’t something to brag about because America didn’t need colonies. The United Kingdom was a small island nation with a severe lack of natural resources and land. And many European nations, like France and Spain, could only grow at the expense of one another. Instead, these nations went abroad to acquire land, cheap labor, and abundant natural resources.

Trains

By contrast, the United States acquired land and natural resources by expanding westward. Natives were sparsely populated and put up light resistance to Yankee conquest¹⁰. Once incorporated as states, raw materials from the west fed the hungry factories of the east without a single tariff or customs agent.

This economic dynamo created the demand for a national rail system. By 1900, the US had almost 200,000 miles of railroads, which was greater than the rest of the world combined¹¹. And while raw materials headed east, migrants flooded west. Traveling from New York to San Francisco, a trip of roughly 2,500 miles, was quicker and easier than a trip from London to Rome (~900 miles).

This vast network of trade still separates the US from the rest of the world. The interstate highway system has no equivalent internationally, not even close. This is one area that America still dominates the world and likely will for quite sometime.

Military

Most of this article focused on pre-World War I. And for good reason. The period prior to the great wars is primarily the era of American Exceptionalism, at least in terms of religion, trade and economics. However, the story is completely different for military dominance. Prior to WWII, America was an afterthought militarily speaking. The US army shifted the balance of power in WWI, but that was mostly due to a stalemate between the fighting armies.

The United States military didn’t fully come into its own until the enormous mobilization of WWII¹². After the most destructive war of all time, America’s military came to symbolize its exceptionalism. This was especially true after the fall of the Soviet Union. Now the United States accounts for more military spending than the next nine countries combined¹³.

Sadly, this global dominance came with a hefty price. It displaced all of America’s previous competitive advantages. At one time, everything was made in the USA. Now its laden with the world’s largest trade imbalance¹⁴. The Constitution used to guarantee personal freedom, especially the 4th Amendment¹⁵. Now the NSA spies on every American regardless of whether they’ve been accused, or even suspected, of a crime¹⁶.

Gold

To this day, the USA remains a great nation. But this is mostly due to the legacy of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. It deeply saddens me to say this, but something will eventually replace the dollar as the reserve currency. When that happens, the global balance of power will swing away from the US and towards China. Import prices will skyrocket and purchasing power will plummet. Ironically, even food will be expensive since most will be exported to earn foreign currency.

This dooms day scenario is due entirely to the Federal Reserve and its abandonment of the gold standard. Until 1973, the dollar was as good as gold. FDR outlawed personal holdings of gold, but foreign nations could still redeem dollars for gold¹⁷. America had more gold reserves than any other nation (by far), including the holdings of Germany’s reserves¹⁸.

However, when there was a run on the gold window, Nixon ordered it closed. Since then, the Federal Reserved printed the dollar into oblivion¹⁹. In 1960, a McDonald’s hamburger was 15¢²⁰. That hamburger was handmade, locally produced, and 100% beef. Sixty years later, you can buy a mass produced, frozen burger for $2.25²¹. That’s 15 times more expensive with nowhere near as much human labor.

Conclusion

America is a great country. As I’ve shown, it was exceptional for many reasons. These days, it is mostly great because its military and the dollar reserve. The nation still has many competitive advantages, like the world largest free trade zone. But the slide away from greatness is real. Donald Trump captured this feeling with his campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”

I wish that I could conclude on a happier note, but America has lost its ways. The economy is saddled with mountains of regulations and taxes. As the response to covid shows, the Bill of Rights is virtually meaningless. The deficit and debt are climbing to astronomical levels. And the dollar is on the brink of collapse. Other than that, things are great!

They say if something cannot go on forever, it will stop. America is no exception. When the shit hits the fan, the nation needs to return to its root. It should dump the Federal Reserve and go back to the gold standard. The military needs to come home and defend our shores, not the Persian Gulf. The central government should return to the limited, enumerated powers of the Constitution. Once America remembers how to be different from the rest of the world, it will be great again.