Let no person think there is not a certain kind of American exceptionalism that I believe in and cherish. It is our astounding capacity for tolerance. European history is a sad, sanguinary tale — massacres, pogroms, population transfers and genocides. Most European nations have rid themselves of pesky minorities. The Germans of Hungary are gone. So, too, the Poles of Germany and, of course, the Jews of almost everywhere. The United States has not been perfect in this regard. The American Indians were virtually extirpated and African Americans suffered plenty. Yet the melting pot — aided by lots of land — turned out to be more true than false. We live among each other, often blissfully ignorant of religion or ethnicity.

It turns out, however, that some of those most inclined to exalt American exceptionalism are simply using the imaginary past to defend their cultural tics — conventional marriage or school prayer or, for some odd reason, a furious antipathy to the notion that mankind has contributed (just a bit) to global warming. Their enemy is what Gingrich calls “the secular left” — people who not only approve of gay marriage but also apparently don’t fly charter as he does…

Therein lies the danger of American exceptionalism. It discourages compromise, for what God has made exceptional, man must not alter. And yet clearly America must change fundamentally or continue to decline. It could begin by junking a phase that reeks of arrogance and discourages compromise. American exceptionalism ought to be called American narcissism. We look perfect only to ourselves.