Nothing seems to cause one of the neocon talking heads to fall into a rage more than discussing a politician or political candidate who "doesn't believe in American exceptionalism!!"  Sean Hannity seems especially unhinged under such circumstances.  This is because "American exceptionalism" has long been the ideological underpinning of – and justification for –the American empire and all of its military adventures.  As shills for the American military/industrial complex and the empire that it is forever expanding, Hannity, O'Reilly, Limbaugh, and all the rest are required by their masters to express outrage – outrage! – whenever anyone questions the propriety of American imperialism and empire building.

All empires claim to be "exceptional" in some ways, and that such exceptionalism gives them license to invade, conquer, and plunder other lands, usually hidden behind the false propaganda of benevolence (i.e., "peacekeeping," "making the world safe for democracy," rooting out the next Hitler, etc.).  The American version of "exceptionalism" has a long history.  Abe Lincoln arrogantly claimed that his government was "the last best hope of Earth."  Ronald Reagan said America was the result of "a divine plan' to create "a shining city on a hill."  "Into the hand of America God has placed the destinies of an afflicted mankind," said Reagan.

This is a major theme of American exceptionalism – the notion that politicians like Reagan or George W. Bush (who claimed God spoke to him and told him to run for president) know what is in the mind of God.  "We have a calling from beyond the stars to stand for freedom," said Bush (or at least his speech writer).  The United States is "indispensable to the forging of stable political relations" in the world, declared Bill Clinton. These "stable political relations" are on display today in the Middle East and in Europe where American military intervention in Syria, Libya, Iraq, and elsewhere, has caused a historic refugee crisis.

Dick Cheney's new book in which he makes a case for a massive increase in American military interventionism and war-making all around the world is entitled, naturally, Exceptionalism.  His concluding chapter is entitled "The Last Best Hope of the Earth."  When neocons start quoting Lincoln, you know that some country somewhere is about to be bombed.

The Origins of American Exceptionalism

This arrogant, elitist, imperialistic impulse of the American foreign policy establishment has a long history.  The writings of several scholars – Clyde Wilson, Forrest McDonald, Thomas Fleming, Robert Penn Warren, and Murray Rothbard – are especially insightful in explaining the origins of this idea.