Instead, I offer a few examples suggestive of the larger phenomenon where the U.S. What follows is not a systematic examination of all the inequities plaguing the U.S. If that does not happen, numerous communities and millions of Americans will continue to be left behind well beyond 2030. In fact, when we have such data, the findings make clear why the SDGs apply to the U.S. as developed but to deploy disaggregated data by race, gender, and where possible, locality-city-level data-and align with SDG targets and indicators to forge more just and healthy communities. Midway to 2030, it is time to not only retire the label of the U.S. has many characteristics more in common with those the World Bank labels as “less developed.” American exceptionalism in context On many levels, notwithstanding the size of the economy, the strength of the military, or excellence in higher education, the U.S. When numerous other issues are assessed, including poverty in America, as Matthew Desmond reminds us, the inequities not only stack up but the picture that emerges is exceptional only in deeply distressing ways, with development extremely uneven and poverty rates unmoved for decades. The people Michael Harrington labeled over 60 years ago as “ the socially invisible“ have become more visible since 2020. Those narratives, labels, and categories, however, mask the plethora of socioeconomic inequities in the U.S. is home to more top-ranked universities than any other country. economy is the largest in the world and “larger than the combined economies of Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, India, France, and Italy.” The military is the most powerful in the world with the biggest defense budget. Yet experts, policymakers, and the media still stubbornly categorize countries as “developed” or “developing.” The United States, of course, is part of this “developed” category. In 2015, the global community adopted the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the watchwords “leave no one behind.” It is a framework that recognizes development happens everywhere-not just in the Global South or in “developing” countries. The Encyclopedia Britannica defines American exceptionalism as the “idea that the United States of America is a unique and even morally superior country for historical, ideological, or religious reasons.” What if American exceptionalism has a different meaning when compared with other industrialized countries? What if, beyond the dominant positive narrative, there lies a negative one? The concept of “American exceptionalism” has a long history.
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