America is more an idea than a place or culture. It is the "land of opportunity" in its most meaningful sense, welcoming people from anywhere and providing the legal framework for newcomers with little to offer but hard work the chance to open a business and begin competing with firms generations old. Americans believe, along with Abraham Lincoln, that the United States is a nation "conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." And equality means a fair shake at competing in our markets.
Our remarkable Bill of Rights, forged over 200 years ago, protects the individual against Big Government and the tyranny of the majority. It secures democracy and helps capitalism flourish. The genius of capitalism and democracy is freeing every individual to the opportunity to contribute to their fullest potential--which makes the economy prosper and makes government better.
De Tocqueville created the term "American exceptionalism" as part of his 1831 effort to explain America to Europe. In the 20th Century, we fought in two world wars and a Cold War to help make the world "safe for democracy," taking abroad our belief in American exceptionalism. The Vietnam War represented a defeat for the U.S., and for American exceptionalism, and tought a generation of Americans to be on guard against leaders who make war to expand democracy.
Today, America remains divided over the issue of how far we should go to secure democracy aborad. Iraq sharpens the debate. Yet can we all agree that America is part of the world, it cannot exist in isolation, and how other countries use and support their human resources has to be of concern to us?
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