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# Why the United States is Exceptional
- URL: https://ivn.us/why-the-united-states-is-exceptional/
- Published: 2012-08-20T21:03:13.000Z
- Updated: 2026-06-22T19:30:28.000Z
- Author: Lucas Eaves
- Tags: News

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dc/be/dcbe1ac4-146f-43be-92a6-ea84728d86a6/content/images/2026/02/why-is-the-united-states-exceptional-62475.jpg "US exceptionalism")](https://ivn.us/the-frog-and-the-eagle/2012/08/20/why-the-united-states-is-exceptional/us-exceptionalism/)

The United States is exceptional, but not for the reasons you may think.

It has been a year since I arrived in the United States and I thought it was time to make a summary of my impressions about this country. Americans pride themselves in their “American exceptionalism”. And I agree with that statement: the United States is “unusual, not typical” to take the Oxford dictionary definition of “exceptional”. But I don’t believe it is true because of the reasons usually advanced. I believe the United States is exceptional for their capacity to embody everything and its opposite and to an extent that I have not seen before. America is the country of the extremes, something that has baffled me more than once during this past year. And the recent “legitimate rape” [scandal](https://ivn.us/editors-blog/2012/08/20/rnc-dismissal-of-adkins-legitimate-rape-remarks-a-game-changer/) is just a reminder to the world that the United States is capable of the best, but also the worst.

Here is a short list of reasons the United States is exceptional under my definition:

- It is a country that was one of the first western countries to legalize abortion broadly, but today is subject to a [growing number of restrictions in numerous states.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/soraya-chemaly/womens-reproductive-rights%5Fb%5F1345214.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm%5Fref=false&fb%5Fsource=message#sb=2972761,b=facebook)
- It is a country capable of sending a robot to Mars to study the habitability of the planet, but also has [40% of the population](http://www.gallup.com/poll/145286/Four-Americans-Believe-Strict-Creationism.aspx?ref=ivn.us) believing that man was made in its actual form by God 6,000 years ago.
- It is a country that has only one state with less than [20% obesity, and an average of 30% obesity nationwide](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/02/obesity-in-united-states-statistics%5Fn%5F1313297.html?ref=ivn.us), but is still able to win more medals than any other country in the 2012 Olympics.
- It is a country that until recently was the biggest polluter in the world (now ranked second), but in which[ 46% of American deny](http://www.gallup.com/poll/126560/Americans-Global-Warming-Concerns-Continue-Drop.aspx?ref=ivn.us) that human activity is the reason for global warming.
- It is a country that has more nobel prizes than any other country, but whose Congress recently passed a law declaring tomato sauce on [pizza a vegetable](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45306416/ns/health-diet%5Fand%5Fnutrition/t/pizza-vegetable-congress-says-yes/?ref=ivn.us#.UDKNbN1mQf4).
- It is a country where the bottom [50% of Americans own 1% of the country's wealth, while the top 1% owns 34.5% of it.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/19/households-wealth-american-1-percent%5Fn%5F1687015.html?ref=ivn.us)
- It is a country that produces more porn than any other country in the world, but where most Hollywood actresses need to wear a bra while having sex.
- It is a country where within a one hundred mile radius, you can find both German baptist farmers who live a very ascetic lifestyle in the California Central Valley and clothes optional, hippie-style student cooperatives on the Berkeley campus.
- It is a country that holds the title of "World Most Powerful" country, but where you have a disproportionate number of presidential candidates that have no clue of foreign affairs.
- It is a country where you can drive at 16, vote, die for your country, and get a medical marijuana license at 18, but can only enjoy a cold beer when you are 21 (and with the exception of a few Muslim countries, the U.S. is the only country with such an age limit).

These are just a few highlights of extremes I have found while in the U.S., and I intentionally did not research the deeper reasons for each of these phenomenons, as my intention is to paint a general picture of how the United States can appear to an alien.

I will conclude by saying that I believe that the United States has the potential to do the worst and the best like no other country I have visited, and because of all the people that I have personally met, I trust that the U.S. can remain a source of greatness.