Redefining 'American Exceptionalism'
On July 3, during his comments to commemorate America’s 250th anniversary, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani contrasted what he called “conventional wisdom” about “American exceptionalism” with his belief that America is exceptional because “here, nothing is fixed into place.” The approach is similar to how President Barack Obama often crafted public addresses, borrowing vocabulary but using a new dictionary, reappropriating ideas from the American tradition, but with a progressive twist.
In Mamdani’s telling of the story, American exceptionalism is foundationless, lacking permanent truths, enduring principles or a fixed understanding of human nature. In contrast to the founder’s understanding of people as flawed yet capable of virtue, a progressive vision of history is built on the law of ceaseless change. Somehow, every change is for the better because humans are progressing according to some “long arc of history.” Politically, this aligns with the idea of the Constitution as “living,” a vessel with no absolute principles but only new meaning constantly being poured into it. Francis Schaeffer described this kind of moral vision as having “both feet firmly planted in mid air.”
Mamdani also announced a “pieds-a-terre” tax—a surcharge on those with non-primary residences in the city. His office then published a list of all who would qualify for the tax, despite the long history of violence by those committed to socialist ideology. The assassination of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO in New York City by confessed killer Luigi Mangione, and those who celebrated it, should’ve been enough to reconsider that plan.
Of course, a central plank of socialism’s economic agenda is that the state should own the means of production. In the socialist view, the state is ultimately responsible for ensuring what Mamdani has redefined as American exceptionalism. His proposal for government-owned grocery stores naturally follows. As Dr. Eric Patterson wrote recently on Breakpoint,
Remember, Marx said that control of the economy (Socialism) was the first step toward control of everything (Communism). It’s noteworthy that Democratic Socialists attack private property, an innovative business environment, and often call freedoms of religion and conscience smokescreens for superstition and intolerance of their progressive agenda.
Ironically, it was American Communists who first coined the phrase “American Exceptionalism,” out of frustration that America proved so resistant to Communist takeover. Stalin popularized the phrase as a way to accuse America of believing the heresy that it was somehow “exceptional” and exempt from the “historical inevitability” of the Communist Revolution.
There is no universally agreed-upon definition, but if America is exceptional, it is not because of some self-perceived superiority or because Americans are somehow exempt from human frailty and fallenness. Rather, it is because the combination of certain founding principles, the priority of religious liberty, the flourishing of pre-political institutions, and a robust civic culture better reflects the potential and perils of the human condition.
The young, energetic faces of the DSA and their supporters reject these aspects of America’s founding, its covenantal purpose, and its role as a model for freedom. Instead, they reimagine America out of envy for those they believe have unfairly advanced. Time will tell how powerful this movement will be. In the meantime, Americans should do their homework and study the history of socialism.
Abraham Lincoln once said, “If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it.” Christians have the worldview resources to best assess where we have been and the moment we are now in. The Biblical framing of the human condition provides not only insight in what to do next and how to do it, but most importantly the hope secured for us in the work of Jesus Christ.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/Cavan Images
John Stonestreet is President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and radio host of BreakPoint, a daily national radio program providing thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.
The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.
BreakPoint is a program of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. BreakPoint commentaries offer incisive content people can't find anywhere else; content that cuts through the fog of relativism and the news cycle with truth and compassion. Founded by Chuck Colson (1931 – 2012) in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends. Today, you can get it in written and a variety of audio formats: on the web, the radio, or your favorite podcast app on the go.
