American Exceptionalism

International comparisons are very difficult to make owing to differences in data collection, definitions, etc. There is a segment of American intelligentsia who ardently wish to claim that there is no such thing as American Exceptionalism. Much of that discussion centers around definitions and data interpretation. Having live in many different countries, I am a proponent of the argument that there is something distinctively different about the American Experience even though we often struggle to define what might be the nature of that exceptionalism.

Lot's of niceties to get lost in. Every now and then, though, you come across some table or graph where that exceptionalism leaps out at you. As in the case below where the Pew Research Center charts per capita GDP against degree of importance of religion. Hard not to acknowledge exceptionalism in those cases.