‘American Exceptionalism’: What Does It Mean?

NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE

T
he more experience I have, the more I think that definitions are virtually the whole ballgame. What do you mean? What do you mean by that word or phrase? Once this is sorted out, conversation can proceed.

I have written articles about “conservatism” and “liberalism” — here, for example. Today, I’d like to take up “American exceptionalism.”

I have heard this phrase a lot in the last several years — more than I ever have in my life. The phrase really got going in the 1920s, when it was used in Communist circles. The Communists were having great success in many nations. …