American Exceptionalism

So Veeky Forums, what allowed the American economy to become so disproportionately massive compared to that of the globe?

My ideas:

>Devastation from world wars created economic power vacuum
>Protestant work ethic mixed with capitalist zeal
>Favorable laissez-faire conditions for business growth
>Strong currency

These are just a few reasons I can come up with off the top of my head. Is anyone an expert on this?

Why does the EU only match US gross domestic product despite having nearly 200 million more people?

freemasons

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Why is your thread title American Exceptionalism when really this about the American economy and not the values of its foreign policy.

If you want an answer though, America has remained relatively laissez-faire through the majority of its existence, and it only really stopped in the past century or so, still having the chance to reap the benefits from it.

Culturally I think you'll find that there's the fact that America tends to being a less stratified society, especially in its industrial and more cereal/food crop based regions where it seems that class is something that is more of a description of someone's current state as opposed to a life long designation like one would find in Europe.

vast natural resources

Resources, large, ever-growing population and no wars.

This is fucking easy why the fuck are you even asking that question.

Two giant fucking moats.

Tons of room for expansion, tons of natural resources, superior political and legal institutions, relatively high stability, low intranational language or cultural barriers, no powerful contiguous enemies

I would argue that our economic values and standing in the global order are the reasons Exceptionalism is a thing in the first place. We wouldn't be able to act exceptional unless we could put our money where our mouth is. And we can.

Unfortunately I think your idea on class is outdated. Maybe that was true a few decades ago but social/financial mobility is kind of a thing of the past. There are exceptions that prove the rule, particularly in the tech sector, but frankly when it comes to the general populace, you just don't see the kind of success stories anymore that characterized the post WWII era.

However, you are right in that there remains a general mindset among Americans that anything is possible, and that hard work gets you far, despite that not really being the case anymore.

>large, ever-growing population and no wars.
what the fuck are you talking about

One major component is the aversion to inheritance and the value of self-made success in american culture. When company to other industrial nations in the 19th century, the top sections of our society were capitalists not landed gentry who looked down on the working class.

Exceptionalism is a neoconservative myth used to justify imperial aggression around the world. We have a dynamic economy (becoming less so all the time) and a proud population (becoming less so all the time). We made good decisions and took advantage of good opportunities, especially in the 20th century following the decimation of Europe in the World Wars. The Soviet Union collapsed not because we're inherently superior to them but because their economic doctrines were less sound than ours, leading to an economic collapse that happened earlier than ours is probably going to.
There's nothing exceptional about America unless you buy into the idea that Anglophone Protestantism and the form of economy and state that it entails are what lies at the end of history.

>particularly in the tech sector
Yes, because the world is changing. You're not going to find textile industrialists and what not anymore in America, just like you're not going to find some guy's success story from making an Auto Factory either.

If you want to see American values being destroyed, it's probably found in the military/authority/public servant worship that seems to be running amok today. America's best times were when we harassed "our" politicians, when they knew that they needed to be scared of getting tarred and feathered or beaten up by the townspeople.

You can still find that lovely rebellious spirit in Americans when they protest, except that they seldom seem to target City Hall and Police Station and instead go to malls and people that have nothing to do with their issues.

>Why is the American economy so massive?
It's a very industrilized economy combined with a vast population and resources.

But how did America get these resources?
Industrilization
America embraised a liberal economy early on, and didn't suffer from conservatists ideas

Population
America is and was a vast country, along with this area being resourcs rich. This attracted people who saw America as a place to set up a new life or company easly without it being too expensive.

Reoursources
Again, America is vast, wich means more reousources. America also attracted large areas from the Lousiana purchase and the Mexican-American war. Wich was a bit lucky (I'm not going to explain this, because it takes too long and you probebly already know'bout it.

These things auto gave it's economical advantage. USA from the second half of the 19-centruary was pretty much garanteed becoming one of the biggest economies.

>There's nothing exceptional about America

Bro, how can you deny the creation of the United States as anything other than one of the few most important historical developments of all time?

It was a rejection of all the bad ideas of European governance, symbolically cutting ties with our past and starting fresh in a new land with a new form of government, modeled on the precious concepts of liberty and separation of church and state, which were repressed in the old world.

Yeah, the English cut Charles' head off and toyed with the idea of a purely parliamentary government in the mid 17th century, but went right back to monarchy not too long afterwards. The American government was never so bipolar.

The Founding Fathers might as well be the proverbial/mythological Romulus and Remus in America. The French even recognized this.

>Bro, how can you deny the creation of the United States as anything other than one of the few most important historical developments of all time?
How does that make it an exceptional country in contemporary times?
>The Founding Fathers might as well be the proverbial/mythological Romulus and Remus in America. The French even recognized this.
But they were real, flesh and blood, like you and me, and they were one group of statesmen, not the entire population of a country. As I said,
>There's nothing exceptional about America unless you buy into the idea that Anglophone Protestantism and the form of economy and state that it entails are what lies at the end of history.
Obviously you do.

Haha, just because they weren't landed gentry doesn't mean they had any less disdain for the proletariat.

And there's no disdain for inheritance in American culture, either, I have no idea what that user's on about.
>for ourselves and our posterity
Really makes you think.

Let's just start saying WASP instead of Anglophone Protestantism, it's a hell of a lot easier to type. I don't see WASP as the pre-destined winning culture. WASP was simply in the right place at the right time.

>I don't see WASP as the pre-destined winning culture. WASP was simply in the right place at the right time.
So the Lakota, Iriqouis, Nipmuc, etc. were all just as exceptional as the modern American state?
If anything made this country what it is, it was the WASPs that broke away from the Crown. I don't see how you can make your argument unless you just don't think that the psychology and religion of the American people had any relation to...well, America.

You're acting like the French Revolution never happened.

The same exact ideas became championed by what can be considered a very different culture to WASPism. It's why I'm saying it was a right place, right time kinda deal. The ideas were present for all European populations to grab a hold of.

Frederick II was bros with Voltaire. Militaristic Prussia had a freaking enlightened despot at the helm! These ideas were all over the continent, man. Because the WASPs came out victors in the Seven Years' War created the conditions for the rebellion in the first place, no matter how petty it seemed in retrospect.

The WASPs had the best opportunity of any European peoples to pull something like America off, and they managed to make the USA a thing despite incredible odds. But it's not because we're the "Chosen People" or any crap like that. We got very lucky.

American Exceptionalism is, for me at least, about being conscious of the extremely rare conditions that came about to add up to Revolution.

Fuck I don't even know what I'm arguing about here anymore, give me a hug comrade.

It is different, in America your precious "proletariat" were the bad guys.

They consented to come to Pennsylvania and work, they were not oppressed, they were allowed to join unions and strike without being forced to go back to work. When this failed the strikers resorted to violence by blockading the mills, then and only then did they set out to defend their property.

>You're acting like the French Revolution never happened.
No I'm not.
>American Exceptionalism is, for me at least, about being conscious of the extremely rare conditions that came about to add up to Revolution.

Then you actually aren't familiar with the concept as it's been articulated by the people who have articulated it in relevant contexts.
>Fuck I don't even know what I'm arguing about here anymore, give me a hug comrade.


You're not my fucking comrade, you're a neoconservative stooge, and your use of the word 'comrade' makes me think you might be some kind of Commie if you're not.

Woah! Why are you so angry? This is Veeky Forums man, we shouldn't be name calling here.

In the nature of our free society, Exceptionalism is whatever the hell you want it to be.

>There's nothing exceptional about America
It was populated by an anglo supermajority, who are the master race compared to everyone else.

> This is Veeky Forums man, we shouldn't be name calling here.
Fuck you, you fucking faggot, go back to fucking Reddit
>In the nature of our free society, Exceptionalism is whatever the hell you want it to be
That's not even close to the case.

Not an argument.