American Exceptionalism

In the political climate that we live in, we constantly hear politicians quibble over their fundamental philosophies; their core values. These core values often deeply entrench these politicians into unyielding positions. Without compromise, very little can be done to dislodge these statesmen from their dispositions. However, I believe, that their is a core value that all Americans share; a higher sense of purpose. As a people we are something greater then we are as individuals. If, I profess we are "greater as a people, then as individuals", one will ask: "what are we greater then". When we come together, we achieve a exceptional status. This is what I think of when I hear the term "American Exceptionalism". We are a nation of many nations, come together for the good of one nation. What does that mean? Well let's examine such a claim.

"We are a nation of many nations". The demographics of the United States does not compose of one people, nor does the connotations of the term "Americans". A person who moves from one country to another, rarely identifies themselves with their new country. An Algerian who moves to France, still considers themselves Algerian; they just happen to live in France. The same can be said of a Russian who moves to Ireland. They do not become Irish, in the sense of a Irishman born to that nation. However, one who moves from the to this wondrous entity, that is the United States, assumes that nationality, in which all natural born Americans posses. We are the only nationality, in which that claim can be applied. When my family came to Ellis Island, in the first years of the twentieth century, they came to be Americans; and the opportunities that we as Americans are afforded. They did not make the trip across the Atlantic to be Russian, Hungarian, German, or Dutch; as they were in their previous land. They came to be American, and that's what they became when they arrived.

For example, when my grandmothers family came to America; it was a less welcoming place. Her brother chose to change his last name from Kaplowitz, to Kane, in order to improve his employment opportunities. At this time, discrimination was much more of a commonplace, in our society. However, these immigrants and nativists came together in succeeding generations, to fight and save the world. Two world wars, followed by fifty years of fending off the red menace, this society unified from a isolationist, nativist outlook, to a nation of many nations. Immigrants are what we are, immigrants are what gives our nation a adamantine composition. Americans overcome all divisiveness that our heterogeneity creates; that is American exceptionalism.

Throughout our history, we have come together for the greater good. The American culture has always rose above divisiveness, to overcome our weaknesses. From the need to abolish slavery, to franchising citizens; regardless of race, sex or creed, fighting to remove discrimination, unfair labor practices, unfair business practices and countless other measure, we the people have united to protect the individual; by protecting society as a whole. This is our new manifest destiny. The issue of slavery once threatened to destroy our nation; causing eleven states to secede from the union. It took a brutal civil war, then a hundred years of a struggle for civil rights to overcome the issue; and mend the tear it caused to the fabric of our society. The issue of class has become the new struggle of our society. The great divide between the rich and the middle/working classes in our country is our new great trial. From Teddy Roosevelt, to the election of Ronald Reagen, the government has been a force to help the people. Unions and regulations have helped countless Americans join an ever important class of workers; the middle class.

The middle class is the ultimate assertion of the power, strength, drive and fortitude of the workers in our nation. As a people, we cannot stand when the middle and working classes are assailed from the upper class, and held back by the right wing of our political structure. American people have overcome countless strife in our 235 years since independence. Abraham Lincoln, who in my opinion our greatest President once said: "A house divided upon itself cannot stand", In my mind this can be further applied to our times by one of Lincolns, greatest generals; William Tecumsah Sherman. Sherman stated: "In our Country... one class of men makes war and leaves another to fight it out." If we change the word war, to wealth we come to our climate. The question we must ask ourselves is: Will the upper classes of our society put back, into what made them wealthy, or will 1% of the country remain divided in the ever widening divide of wealth. Will American exceptionalism prevail?, or will the divide overcome the better good.

What allows American exceptionalism is the exceptional wonder, of the ever beating heart of our nation; the United States Constitution. That living, breathing document elasticity is its true strength. The founders of our nation did not want to force future generations into inflexibility. What they dealt with in 1791, they knew would change in 1891, 1991 and 2011. Article I, section 8, clause 18 possess the words that are exceptionally American: "Necessary and proper", allowing Congress the ability to adapt to a ever changing world, while remaining within the parameters of the powers enumerated to them. The ability to amend the constitution also allows government, to grow and adapt to the times. I hear from originalist, that we must not only adhere to the strict letter, but the thoughts in heads of James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, George Mason and other founders, as they would apply them in 1791. This constitution is not written in stone; it is not the ten commandments. Their is no room to interpret the ten commandments; it is what it is. However, the constitution was written by man on paper, with ink. Men who never claimed to be infallible. Men who wanted generations to live better then them, not the exact same way they lived. That is why they gave us a living, breathing document to ensure our expceptionalism; which is the American character.

American Exceptionalism is what makes Americans great. We endeavor for the greater good of a nation of many nationalities. We are the living experiment, of the wondrous notion that government, of the people, for the people can inhabit this earth. Do we come together, like we have in the past for our countries greater good?, or do we lose sight of our manifest destiny due to intolerance and nativist fears. I, for one, have faith that American exceptionalism will continue to rise to the challenge, of the weakness in the human soul. I cannot imagine our society, if we cannot rise to the challenge.