American Exceptionalism

The United States’ doctrine of exceptionalism is quite frightening even if is proclaimed as highlighting extraterritorial and coercive policies in defense of freedom and equal rights, the founding principles of the American nation. Barack Obama said that the United States is unique and exceptional, and that is repeated by Mike Pompeo, whose convictions are more frightening given his biography. The current director of the CIA belongs to the most conservative faction of Republicans, has defended the extreme positions of the tea party and simulated drownings during interrogations of terrorism suspects.

To limit the scope of a harsh but just analogy, the Nazis proclaimed that they were Aryans and that the Aryan race was superior to the others because it was unique and exceptional. Soldiers with blue eyes, blond hair and white skin; tall, slender, square jawed. They engaged in esotericism to justify their right to expand the Third Reich into countries with people they considered inferior, almost subhuman.

In the middle of the month, the nominee for secretary of state, after being asked by Sen. Tim Kaine at the confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, justified U.S. military interventionism by alluding to national privilege and the right to interact with the world without any restrictions other than those established by the commandments of exceptionalism. Russia is also unique, but not exceptional. In fact, Pompeo’s statement is no more than a derivative of manifest destiny: the transcendent goal of the United States is to enforce the will of God on earth.

That doctrine is accepted by a majority of Americans, Democrats and Republicans, and especially by the ruling classes. The principle establishes that the U.S. is destined by providence to be the policeman of the world, or something similar. The phrase “manifest destiny” appeared for the first time in an 1845 article about the annexation of Texas by journalist John L. O’Sullivan in the Democratic Review of New York. The doctrine of manifest destiny has some parallels with the Jewish belief that the people of Israel are the chosen people of God. In the United States, the separation of church and state does not prevent the purely religious dimension of its political class. The Declaration of Independence contains four references to the “Supreme Maker” and, without citing any specific religion, George Washington’s first presidential speech mentioned faith.

The exceptionality of the United States has exerted itself in Latin America and other regions by the support of military dictatorships and invading countries. Two centuries ago, Simon Bolivar ventured that its northern neighbor seemed destined to afflict America with misery in the name of freedom. The emancipator was wrong. The endemic backwardness of Latin America is the fault of Creole rulers who have been unable to establish rule of law. Everyone violated the constitutional precepts of justice and freedom. We pray to God for Pompeo to fail.