We are all familiar with the term exceptionalism. The U.S. after the two world wars has become the superpower of the world. It is rightly so for Americans to feel exceptional. Hence American Exceptionalism naturally evolves, and it is exhibited in the U.S. foreign policies, from offering the Marshall Plan to revitalize Europe after the devastating WW II to acting as the world leader in post-war order. The most pronounced exhibition of American Exceptionalism is the creation of the American Dream which attracted people all over the world admiring and longing for an American life. Hence people from all over the world desire to immigrate to the U.S. despite of a strict U.S. immigration law.
As a capitalist country rich with resources and benefited from the world wars happening away from its turf, the U.S. has developed as the number one economy of the world since 1890 lasting till today. With the marketing power of the richest nation, the U.S. rightly deserves to feel exceptional, this is exhibited by its media especially notably through its Hollywood productions. The U.S. has become the world's cultural center or civilization model exhibited by its cities like New York in the 20th century, replacing Europe as the world's center of civilization in the 19th century and China long before from the 7th century onward. (Tang Dynasty onward).
As written by the world’s most famous traveler Marco Polo from Venice who journeyed the Silk Road at the height of the Mongol Empire ruling Eurasia, “Paris is not beautiful, China is more beautiful.” Of course, even in the 7th century, Chang-An, the capital city of China, already had a population of a million whereas most European cities were only tens of thousands or less. Reviewing history, one would find that human civilizations were developed from different parts of the world, some flourished for a short time and some for a longer time. During their peak time, naturally, the citizens at the time felt exceptional, such as the Romans, Greeks, Babylonians, and of course the Chinese from Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, to early Qing. Out of the many great human civilizations, the Chinese civilization is the only one had survived (although nearly destroyed by the West and Japanese Imperial invasions) without perishing over five thousand years.
This author has written papers on National Exceptionalism, explaining that each nation, big or small, has its exceptionalism based on its history, culture, and development. In the international arena, nations must respect each other and understand every nation's exceptionalism, accepting the human species as a single race in the universe. Each nation is entitled to its nation-building albeit with recognition and respect to its history and cultural background and others'. American exceptionalism has its roots as discussed above, but it cannot be viewed as the only acceptable exceptionalism. Presently, there is no doubt that the U.S. is still the strongest nation, but that does not mean American Exceptionalism can be applied to international relations without regard to other nation's exceptionalism. The fact that the U.S. foreign policies appear to be too bullying (acting as the world police and exercising regime change tactics with no regard to other nations' wishes, especially in conflict with American interests) is the symptom of no respect for other nations' exceptionalism.
The American people feel proud to be Americans because they have a better life than most citizens of the world. Americans do expect to continue to have a better life, job opportunities, and socioeconomic well-being. This desire should not be built on a zero-sum philosophy, that is if someone else has a better life means I will have a worse one, hence forbidding others to strive for a better life. The American people understand this and apply it in their country, everyone is equal and entitled to earn a good living, so why shouldn't the same principle be applied to other people in other nations? From a material and resources point of view, even though the Earth is limited, the U.S. is far better endowed by most countries in the world. Humans as a race have always conquered the difficulties from nature and improvised from limited resources. Why can't humans work together and apply ingenuity to make human lives better as a whole? If humans can make sand into silicon wafers, then silicon chips, and then make washers, televisions, cars, planes, etc., why can't people work together to create better things for humans? Is sanctioning semiconductors making sense with American Exceptionalism?
Why cannot American Exceptionalism tolerate competitors? The rise of the U.S. itself is evidence that competition makes better things, it happens in our agriculture, steel production, communication (television, cell phone, etc.), transportation (cars, planes, and ships, etc.) The rise of the U.S. was not because it defeated the U.K. replacing the U.K. as a superpower. It is because the U.S. did not engage in so many aggressive wars like the U.K. depleting its treasury and spending beyond its means. But now the U.S. is engaging in wars, targeting Russia, China, Iran, etc., and raising national debts. Why isn't the U.S. reviewing the history, prosperity rarely comes from wars, even when winning, it comes from peace. The Chinese history from the 7th century to now is an excellent textbook for understanding peace dividend, Tang dynasty was prosperous because of its peace diplomacy.
Yes, China was devastated by foreign invasions and wars during the 19th and early 20th centuries. However, the Chinese people were resilient and wise enough to know how to work hard and compete as history has plenty of lessons. The U.S. was its learning model, from its Independence Declaration, and Monroe Doctrine to the Marshall Plan, China was a student of the U.S. until the late 20th century. As the world superpower, the U.S. adopts a hegemony strategy and practices American Exceptionalism in the wrong direction by ignoring other nations' exceptionalism. The U.S. builds NATO not for the good of Europe but for the U.S. hegemony. The U.S. allied with China not to lift its poor from poverty but for the collapse of the Soviet Union. The U.S. appears to be successful but at the expense of its own future. NATO is costly to maintain, and the Russia-Ukraine war was the result of NATO expansion. Now China's economy has risen to be on par with the U.S. why can't the U.S. see that history is repeating itself; waging wars is not a solution to seeking prosperity, worse for world prosperity. World peace and prosperity are the fundamental wishes of humans.
Presently, we see the Russia-Ukraine war persisting, Israel-Gaza conflict is escalating to become a Red Sea crisis. The U.S. cannot say that it is not behind all these world problems. Yet, the U.S. is still selling weapons to Taiwan raising tension there despite the Cross-Strait relationship having coexisted peacefully for over 70 years under a slow peaceful reunification process. The present U.S.’s China policy is a repeat of the anti-Soviet strategy. But China is not a Soviet Union, its history gave ample evidence that China was a good ally to have and a resilient foe to deal with. China promoted the Silk Road (BRI) initiative for collaborative economic development with the world, which is China's national exceptionalism. The U.S. should join the program and derive a win-win peace dividend rather than stirring wars for lose-lose consequences. As an American citizen, this author cannot help but call for Americans to understand the real meaning of national exceptionalism and competition.
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