Reason #1: America is Exceptional Because our Founders Built a Government Based on an Accurate Picture of Fallen Mankind.

James Madison (Federalist Paper #51): If men were angels, no government would be necessary.

When the second generation of the Founders convened to create the Constitution (the first generation created the Articles of Confederation), they created a radical document. It was not radical in the way that so many past governing documents had been radical. Those past documents claimed that a particular people or tribe or nation had special virtue that set them apart from the mass of humanity. The ideas unleashed since the time of the French Revolution have been even more radical. They claim that particular classes of men (often non-nobles, or the workers, or the oppressed) have some special virtue that will cause all things to work well if they are just given power.

Madison and the Founders believed the contrary. They believed that men were not angels and could not be made into angels. They believed that all persons are broken and that unless we are accountable and governed, we will harm ourselves and others. They did not believe that because of the virtue of man, government would wither away. They did not embrace the pipe dream that men were so virtuous that government was simply unnecessary. This is deep wisdom, but it is not wisdom that claims that Americans are special or super-virtuous. It is wisdom that reminds us that all of us are corrupt and that we need others holding us accountable to live without harming others.

Reason #2: Our Founders then Built a Government That Was Strong Enough to Protect but Divided Enough That the People Were Protected From It.

James Madison (Federalist Paper #51): If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.

So, we need government because we are not angels. There is one clear problem then: the government is going to be run by people who are not angels themselves. This is where the Founders created something very exceptional. They created a government that assumed that it would be run by sinful people.

First, they recognized the power of Federalism. They put much of the power of government as close to the people as possible. In America, there is not one government, but many: there is a federal government, a state government, and various local governments.

In the original vision of the Founders, the lower-level governments (state and local) were to do a lot of the heavy lifting, creating the laws that touched people’s lives most profoundly. And in the federal government, they divided the government into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. They gave each branch the ability to check the power of the other two branches. If a President commits “high crimes and misdemeanors,” he can be impeached and removed from office. If the Congress passes an unconstitutional law, it can be vetoed by the President or overturned by the Supreme Court.

The people running our government don’t need to be gods (news flash: they aren’t) and we don’t have to imagine that they are unusually wise. If they are fools or wicked people, the rest of the government should check their waywardness. This is an exceptional model. It does not speak to the power and the wealth that we typically celebrate, but this novel structure—not our military or our financial wherewithal—makes us a great nation.

Reason #3: Our Founders Built in Protections that Allow Their and Our Short-Sightedness and Sin to be Confronted and Corrected.

Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence; and that, after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.

- George Washington (Farewell Address)

Finally, our Founders created a system of government that can be amended and refined. They saw that they themselves were not divine and that some things that they were doing or affirming might need to be changed in the future. How thankful we should be that our laws can be changed, that our Constitution can be amended, and that our leaders can be removed from office by majorities during elections.

Strongmen around the world demand worship and obedience, persecuting or killing their own citizens if they don’t bow to power. In America, none of our leaders should claim divine rights or special insights. The system of government embraced by our nation is one that recognizes the vice of its own Founders. That is exceptional.

I quoted Washington at the beginning of this section because his quote captures this sentiment perfectly. Washington, among the most exceptional Americans and the only American who could have been King, admits his own flaws and asks for the forgiving mercy of his fellow countrymen. That is beautiful. Over the years, many Americans have had to ask forgiveness for unwise actions, well-meant foolishness and worse.

If America is exceptional, it is less because of its economic prowess and military might than because of its original humility. Today, when you hear Francis Scott Key’s wonderful anthem, The Star Spangled Banner, recall that its author wondered whether the United States of America would make it through the night.

If you are an American, be proud. Be proud first and foremost not of our power, our wealth, or any good deeds we have accomplished, but that this country is built on the recognition that the men and women of this land are flawed beings who are easily corrupted. That uncompromising look in the mirror and the ability to tell the truth about ourselves is pretty darn exceptional!