Is America Exceptional?

• Author: Sempa, Francis P.

Is America Exceptional?

By Norman Podhoretz, Editor-at-Large for Commentary Magazine

Text: https://www.hillsdale.edu/news/imprimis.asp

Reviewed by Francis P. Sempa, Contributing Editor

Norman Podhoretz has been one of America's most influential intellectuals for more than a half-century. As Editor of Commentary and the author of a dozen books, Podhoretz has contributed to national debates over both domestic and foreign policy issues. In a recent speech at Hillsdale College's Constitution Day Dinner, Podhoretz explored the idea of American exceptionalism both at home and abroad.

In the speech, he posed the question: Has America been a force for good in the world? There was a time, he noted, when the consensus answer to that question was a resounding "Yes." That consensus, especially among American intellectuals, vanished in the 1960s. To be sure, even before the 1960s, intellectuals criticized American culture and capitalism, but the notion that America was a force for evil in the world gained increased acceptance during the Vietnam War.

Podhoretz sides with those intellectuals who believe that America has always been a force for good in the world. The American political...