(Editor’s note: This is the 3rd of 10 articles serializing Executive Editor Michael Ryan’s ebook YouRule: How Saving America Depends Entirely on You And What You Can Do About It.)

What then-President Obama was describing, without knowing it, wasn’t American exceptionalism at all. That much is true on its face.

Consider: If something is exceptional, that means it’s an “exception.” If every country is believed to be exceptional, then none really is. The description of children in Garrison Keillor’s imaginary Lake Wobegon—where “all the children are above average”—is just fanciful. It isn’t real. And neither is the former president’s assessment of exceptionalism.

Besides, what Mr. Obama really did was describe national pride. Not the same thing. Pride is but a fleeting feeling, one that may or may not be warranted. It might in fact be nothing more than vanity, or worse, arrogance.

Exceptionalism is a downright different animal than pride, and is arguably demonstrable—a claim capable of being made dispassionately, with reason and evidence. There are hundreds of former athletes in halls of fame, for example, whose exploits are well-documented and well-deserving of special recognition. They weren’t inducted into their hall of fame because we’re proud of them; their records and statistics made them objectively exceptional.

The same case can be made for America. And I will make it here.

But it’s important to note that what you have seen just now, even in a former president, is a startling lack of understanding about the nature of America. What makes America exceptional, it’s clear upon inspection, is our system of governance enshrined in our founding documents—the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Federalist Papers and more. The rule of law. The Bill of Rights. The sanctity of private property. The concept that basic human rights flow from God, not government.

And if you check under the hood for just a quick moment, you’ll see the main thing that makes the American engine really hum is its ingenious design in the Constitution—specifically the Separation of Powers among the federal government’s co-equal three branches: Executive, Legislative and Judicial. They keep watch on each other in a system of checks and balances more formally known as “Stay in your lane, bro.”

In short, the Constitution dilutes and diffuses the awesome power of government to protect we, the people. Pretty cool. And pretty darn smart. Why doesn’t every country do it this way? And is that why more people around the world aren’t as free? Is it why so many of them want to come here?

Here’s the real key to it all—America’s secret sauce:

It’s you.

Unique to every government that’s ever been formed, the American system holds you up as its sovereign, its king or queen. In this country, you rule.

How great is that?

To illustrate it, I often ask entire audiences to stand up and imagine that they represent everyone who has ever been born. Then I ask all but a tiny fraction, perhaps 3% to 5%, to sit down. Imagine now, I tell them, that those who are left standing represent the privileged few in human history who have ever lived as free as we do.

Sobering, even for a sovereign.

No One Set More People Free

Speaking of sobering, think of this: People like you weren’t always in charge of their own lives, much less a country. 

Throughout history, people just like you lived and died under the watchful eye and oppressive thumb of a king, prince, potentate or hairy unwashed thug. Often at mere whim, their overlords used all manner of metal, wood and stone to punish, confine and humiliate people in prisons, pillories and prangers—the latter of which translates to “something that pinches badly.” And those are the people they let live!

Yet, after hundreds of years imprisoned by metal, wood and stone, it was paper that set humans free (well, that, and a few muskets). This is the brilliance of our Founders, the blessing of Providence and our legal claim to our unalienable, God-given rights to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Attributing far too much credit to antiquity, and sadly to posterity, our Founders declared such truths to be “self-evident,” though they laid them down in writing anyway, and thank God they did.

I beg you: Don’t make the mistake I made in high school, where Mr. Excitement had my eyes glaze over at the mere mention of the Declaration, Constitution and Federalist Papers. I’m ashamed to say, it’s like standing before the Mona Lisa and shrugging, “Meh. Anyone could’ve done that.” It remains that no one else, in fact, did do that: No one in history captured mankind’s plight or potential quite like the Founders. And no one, absolutely no one, set more people free.

Explore these documents—at once your Emancipation Proclamation and your country’s Owner’s Manual—with the intrepid zeal with which your forebears scouted the continent you stand on. Despite the patriots’ passé parlance, their ideas are approachable and universal. And they are the keys that set you free.

Next: Saving America requires you to perform this historic juggling act.

About the Author

Michael F. Ryan is executive editor of The Heartlander, as well as a longtime newspaper journalist and editorial writer, frequent speaker, and author of the international novel The Last Freedom on Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl.

His award-winning work has appeared in newspapers and magazines since the 1980s, as he has made a decades-long study of civic engagement and its decline.

The full YouRule! ebook is available for 99 cents at either BookBaby or Amazon.