As our country celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding, there have been lots of articles and features reflecting on America, its heritage, and its legacy. Some refer to the idea of “American Exceptionalism”: that our country is inherently unique, distinctive, or superior to other countries, rooted in unique ideals and principles.
While there are no doubt characteristics and advantages that our country has enjoyed, and perspectives upon which it was founded that were unique at the time, can we really claim superiority? Can we, as American citizens, really take most of the credit at all?
Given its unique geography and resources available to it, our nation clearly won the geographic lottery. It is bordered by two gigantic oceans, providing protection from foreign invasion. Hitler was prohibited from invading England by the English Channel, a narrow stretch of water 21 miles wide. Nearly 2,000 people have swum the English Channel, and it has protected England for centuries. The Atlantic Ocean is over 1,700 miles wide, and the Pacific is 12,300 miles wide. These form a virtually impenetrable barrier to sea invasion.
The U.S. is bordered by Canada and Mexico, two nations that are relatively stable compared to other nations throughout the world (even when the cartels are burning buses in tourist towns), and nations that have been peaceful for the past 150 years or more. Furthermore, the national geography of the U.S. interior contains deserts and mountains that would create natural defenses if someone were ever able to invade it, making any such operation desperately costly (Red Dawn, anyone? Original or significantly inferior remake?). Compare this to nations in Europe, which have been invaded multiple times throughout history.
Our nation has more navigable rivers than any other country in the world. Both the Nile and the Congo Rivers, large rivers in Africa, have numerous rapids and waterfalls, rendering them partially unnavigable in significant portions. When one adds the Great Lakes and the canal systems in the U.S., it allows manufacturers in Illinois, right in the center of the country, to be port cities, able to transport goods to market and across the sea by water. Shipping goods by water is 2 to 5 times less expensive per ton-mile than by rail or road, giving American manufacturers a huge advantage over their foreign competitors in getting goods to market.
The U.S. has three deep-water ports: Puget Sound in Washington, San Francisco Bay, and Chesapeake Bay. Deep-water ports accommodate small, medium, and large, heavily laden vessels, such as supertankers. Having deep water ports provides nations with efficient global trade, lower shipping costs per ton, greater fuel efficiency, and higher cargo volumes. They are richer, more profitable international ports. The U.S. has three. No other nation has more than one. Additionally, the U.S. has several other natural harbors in New York, Boston, and New Orleans.
Although not as large a land mass as some other nations, the U.S.’s relatively greater size and location give it a unique blend of diverse climates and abundant, accessible natural resources. Russia has vast natural resources, but many are virtually inaccessible due to the frozen tundra where they’re located. Other nations have natural resources, but lack the infrastructure or navigable rivers to access them or get them to market or where they can be used. With the development of fracking technology, the U.S. has become energy independent, relying on domestic energy sources rather than on other countries for energy supply, unlike, for example, its European counterparts.
Our varied climate also supports a wide variety of crops, and with the ability to transport them easily, the U.S. provides 30 percent of the world’s corn and 30 percent of its soybeans, among other crops. It has been known as the breadbasket of the world for 150 years.
In short, the U.S. is number one in the world– as compared with competitors China, Russia, India, and Europe–in national borders and security, resource abundance and accessibility, climate and agriculture, strategic location, navigable waterways, and deepwater ports.
America certainly is unique and exceptional in that regard. Yet, here’s the question: Which of these geographical advantages can we take credit for? Which did we build, or manufacture? Which did we create? If we leveraged the fact that we won the geographic sweepstakes, aren’t we just kind of like the rich kid whose parents sent him to Harvard and who ended up successful on Wall Street? I mean, he didn’t completely blow it as some similarly-situated kids do, but he had every available opportunity, right? Didn’t he start on third base in the game of life?
The other thing it seems like we somehow got right was our system of government, the constitutional republic on which our nation was founded. While it’s really impossible 250 years later to know how many of our founders were Christian, they were certainly raised and educated in a Christian, mostly Protestant, culture and were deeply influenced by that perspective on life. And they had one critical insight, upon which they designed our government, that has allowed it to last for 250 years and be replicated by others– that all humans are essentially fallen and evil, and if left to their own devices, will seek to tyrannize and oppress one another. Our whole federal government system, with its checks and balances and its three branches of government, designed to essentially lock up when someone gets heavy-handed with power, as we’ve seen happen a lot in the past 20 years or so, is built on the idea that if one group has power their natural tendency will be to oppress others. Our government was created to make it very, very difficult for one group of people or one person to tyrannize others.
While that perspective may seem to be cynical or pessimistic. It’s actually biblical. Romans 3:10-12 tells us that
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
Our founders understood this truth and built a government to last on it. Compare these ideals to the French Revolution, built on the principles that humans were essentially good and that government existed to facilitate that goodness, which is a significant reason why France churned through five or six (historians disagree) failed and distinct forms of government between 1789 and 1804, when Napoleon was crowned emperor. This has led to an American system of government that has been remarkably stable, lending to economic success, and one that has been replicated by others.
America is not great because of great leadership. Of the 45 individual presidents in American history, only four-Lincoln, Washington, and the two Roosevelts–were generally thought of as great leaders. Even when you throw in Jefferson, Truman, and Eisenhower (and maybe even Reagan), most of whom were considered very good, that’s only eight. The rest ranged, historically, from average to poor. As poor as Israel’s track record with kings was, God’s people fared better with kings than we have. According to Scripture, Judah and Israel had a combined record of 12 good kings out of 42.
Congress’s record is even worse. According to historians, only six Congresses (1st, 39th, 80th, 83rd, 84th, 88th, and 111th) are typically cited as great, out of 119. The rest are described as “average,” “functional,” or “dysfunctional”. How many basketball coaches who are 6-119 would still be working anywhere? (Incidentally, at least we’re all better than the Romans, who most historians say had about nine great emperors out of 80-150, depending on which emperors you count).
A couple of weeks ago, I was on the floor of the House of Representatives with Congressman Moran, and I saw that right behind the Speaker’s dais, big and in gold leaf, was printed “In God We Trust.” While that might not seem to always ring true for our leaders, it’s a good reminder to us as a nation, and to the Body of Christ living within this nation.
What makes America exceptional is that God decided, because of His goodness, to shed His grace upon us. Not because we’re awesome (400 years of human chattel slavery should disabuse us of that notion). Not because we’re somehow smarter than other people (remember the rich kid who graduated from Harvard). Not because we as Americans love God so much more than people in other countries (Did anyone see last week’s Oscars? Or any award show trumpeting the current state of American culture? Please.) But just because God is good and has decided to give us an extra measure. And, that should be very humbling, not cause for crowing.
So, what do we do about that, as His people, His church, who are really trying to live lives of faith and obedience in a grace-filled country that seems to be fighting His Kingdom most of the time? How can we show ourselves worthy of this beautiful legacy we’ve been given?
First of all, we can rejoice and give thanks. Everything God has given us is a gift of His grace. Gratitude honors God and is good for us. Disciplining our minds for gratitude actually rewires our brains to focus on positivity, counteracting our inherent negativity bias, reducing stress hormones like cortisol and releasing neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin. God has created our brains to be more healthy when we’re grateful. Gratitude leads to an abundance mindset and emotional resilience. Satan wants to create negativity in us to destroy us, so intentionally practicing gratitude for all these American gifts we’ve been given, corporately and individually, also helps devil-proof us.
Second, we can pray for peace, and we can work for justice both here and abroad. Whether we like to think of ourselves this way or not, given all these blessings God has bestowed upon us, nationally speaking, we are the rich, good-looking, athletic kid. Everyone else hates it when that kid is a bully, arrogant, or oblivious to people who are suffering. In the parable of the master and his servants, Jesus reminds us that “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required.” (Luke 12:48). The Lord holds us accountable, collectively and individually, for what we’ve been given.
Because we have so much, we have a responsibility to work to ease the suffering and anguish of others, both here and abroad, those the Lord has placed in our care and given us the resources to help. This isn’t some begrudging obligation, but a joyful task: to bear other’s burdens, and have the world around us rendered a little bit better place, with people flourishing because we were here. Are people around you flourishing, at least in part, because you’re in their lives?
Third, we can speak truth into power and pray for our leaders. Speaking truth into power doesn’t mean being hypercritical of our leaders, whether our president, Congress, or local leaders, even when, quite frankly, they may do many things we disagree with. But, it also means not being unflagging apologists for them when they’re clearly out of line with Scripture. It always intrigues me how we remove statues and edit historical figures posthumously (which in many cases, we should), yet we’re willing to tolerate sometimes equally-repellent conduct from our current leaders at all levels.
Are we so fearful of adverse current economic circumstances, so untrusting that the Lord has us in His protection both now and in the future, that we’re unwilling to call out things today that are clearly, Scripturally wrong, because we’re afraid of what will happen to us if we do? Have we lost our prophetic witness? At the same time, we should be praying for our leaders, and asking God to call them to Him, to fill them with righteousness. Yet, do we pray for our leaders at least as much as we find ourselves criticizing them?
Finally, we can always place our faith and trust ultimately in the Lord, and never in people. Given our aforementioned track record with our leaders, we should honor and respect them, but never trust them with our hopes and futures. The God who gave us deep water ports, and navigable rivers, and massive oceans, and good neighbors, and abundant resources, and the minds, hearts, work ethics, and educations to use all of them, is the one in whom we should trust, just like that wall on the floor of the House of Representatives says we ought, but for real. My hopes, my dreams, my security, my heartaches, my pain and suffering, all in Him. He is the God who is truly exceptional, meaning, in this case, not only unique but superior to all others, and He alone is worthy of having the final claim on our hearts.
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