How exceptional is America? Are we still the envy of the world because of our form of government and its ideals? Is the cultural diversity of our people still our greatest strength?

Maybe it’s time to take a closer look at the idea of American exceptionalism. Beyond our unique government system, how do we as a people compare to other countries? How smart are we? How free? How happy? How safe? How progressive? How moral? How powerful?

Intelligent Quotient (IQ) testing is used to evaluate a person’s ability to absorb information, to solve puzzles, and to predict outcomes. While it is certainly not a comprehensive assessment of a person’s talents, it has proven to be useful in determining how well individuals fare in a competitive society. But what about the nation as a whole? How does America’s collective intelligence rank on the world stage?

According to the World Population Review, America’s average IQ ranked 31st among all countries in 2023. Moreover, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) – the gold standard for measuring the academic performances in math, reading, and science of 15-year old kids across the world – rated the US at a middling 18th. Surely we are not among the elite nations.

Upward social mobility reflects how well a nation facilitates socioeconomic advancement. According to the 2020 Global Social Mobility Index, America ranks 27th in the world, and has been stagnant since the 70’s. The poor stay poor, the middle class stays middle class. The only upward movement is among those who are already wealthy.

Happiness might be a measurable aspect of a society. If so, America isn’t a happy place. According to Gallup’s World Happiness Report. “In the US, happiness or subjective wellbeing has decreased in all age groups, but especially for young adults” (LLana Ron Levey). It’s no secret that our kids, girls especially, suffer from depression as a direct result of obsession with social media.

Safety and health are also somewhat measurable. According to Cassandra McBride (Legal Reader.com), in 2024 there were nearly twice as many guns as adults in America. This is roughly six times higher than the average nation. Does this make us safer?

Regarding health, the U.S. ranks 12th in the world for cases of obesity, and first among higher income countries. An estimated two of five Americans are obese, due primarily to overconsumption of unhealthy food and lack of exercise (Dr. Omer Awan, Forbes Magazine).

One might consider spirituality, or religious affiliation, a valuable quality of a nation. According to the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), 40% of young Americans aged 19-24 claim no religious affiliation today. While Christians evidence the greatest fallout, there is significant decline of faith among Jews and Muslims as well.

Here is a common justification among those who have denounced their churches: You don’t have to be part of a religion to be spiritual. The problem here, as I see it, is that spiritualism without faith amounts to a self-centered worldview (it’s just me and the universe) and does not provide any moral guidance regarding how we treat others. (I must note that this moral decline is also evident in the ranks of the evangelicals and self proclaimed Christians who turned a deaf ear to the lies and violent rhetoric employed during the last election cycle).

A nation’s progressiveness might be defined as how future-oriented a society is – how do we make changes for the better. Socially, it is often about going against previous norms regarding prejudices and stereotypes that have been ingrained for generations. The fact that America has never elected a woman as President (despite the sub-par performances of so many men) is evidence of a deep-seated misogyny among a large portion of the population.

So what is exceptional about America today? I can think of three things: First, we proved our superiority once again in athletics during the 2024 Olympics. Second, we remain the greatest innovators in the world – the all-time leader in the Nobel Prizes. This can be attributed to government recruitment and support of promising artists and researchers.

Finally, our military is still the greatest on earth – an awesome assemblage of potentially earth shattering techno-weaponry. However, Might is not always right. We ought to make an effort to shore up our human resources – to reduce complacency and the sense of entitlement and to become more exceptional as a whole nation.

Pete Howard, a musician, writer, teacher, and painter, lives in Dunkirk