Is the United States exceptional?

America has many characteristics that make it stand out

Question: Is the United States exceptional?
Position‹3 of 3: Yes, America is exceptional but not necessarily in a good way
Argument1 of 2›: America has many characteristics that make it stand out

America's somewhat self-congratulatory portrait of itself and largely unchallenged faith in American exceptionalism is not necessarily an opinion shared by other countries.

The argument

The idea that the United States is uniquely virtuous may be comforting to Americans; too bad it’s not true. America has many of its own special qualities, as all countries do, but when Barack Obama suggested American exceptionalism was no different to British or Greek exceptionalism he was pilloried in the media. Americans take too much credit for global progress and accept too little blame for areas where U.S. policy has in fact been counterproductive. The democratic ideal that is held dear does wilt when examined in the context of the Electoral Colleges and the popular vote. Despite being the self-appointed leader of free world, during just one administration, the USA has unilaterally pulled out of multiple international treaties around global issues. These include the nuclear arms control treaty with Russia, Paris climate accord (despite being the major producer of greenhouse gases for most of the last hundred years), Iran nuclear deal, Trans-Pacific Partnership, withdrawing from UNESCO and threatening to leave both NATO and the North American Free Trade Agreement. Many issues where America was at the leading edge are hindered by its introspection. “The idea that the United States is uniquely virtuous may be comforting to Americans; too bad it’s not true”. An unchallenged faith in American exceptionalism makes it harder for Americans to understand why others are less enthusiastic about them. There is a strong belief God is on the American’s side and an increase in ideas such as creationism. In contrast to being at the forefront of a lot of scientific discoveries and innovation “The United States (also has) … some of the most backwards proponents of superstitious nonsense in both our electorate and at the highest levels of politics. It is an embarrassment to host laboratories that are at the forefront of scientific research in the same country where presidential candidates are discussing whether Earth is really 6,000 years old as some Bible scholars say, or whether they believe in evolution.”

Context

America is not exceptionally free and the government is not exceptionally small. it came 22nd in the World’s Transparency index that measures corruption – not dreadful but not stellar either.

Premises

[P1]Proponents argue that America's belief in its own unique virtue is unearned—it takes too much credit for global progress and too little blame for counterproductive policy, and its cherished democratic ideal wilts against the gap between the Electoral College and the popular vote. [P2] They point to the self-appointed 'leader of the free world' unilaterally quitting multiple international agreements—the Russia arms-control treaty, Paris accord, Iran deal, TPP and UNESCO—and to prominent strains of creationism and science denial coexisting with world-leading laboratories. [C] Because America stands out as much for its failings and contradictions as for its strengths, it is exceptional but not necessarily in a good way.

Counter-arguments

America remains a superpower and a leader on the global stage

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] The premise is a critique of a belief rather than evidence about a country: that Americans overrate their own virtue, if true, is a fact about national self-perception, and the Electoral College is a feature of the constitutional design that other democracies match with their own counter-majoritarian devices. [Rejecting P2] Withdrawal from several agreements during one administration describes one presidency rather than a national characteristic, and several of those decisions were reversed by the next; the creationism point likewise identifies a minority view that coexists with world-leading research, which is a description of internal variation rather than a distinguishing feature — so nothing here establishes exceptionality in either direction, only that the country has faults, which the argument's own framing concedes every country has.