Spirit of Alexis de Tocqueville Is Afoot as World Cup Visitors Get a Glimpse of American Exceptionalism

LUZERNE COUNTY, Pennsylvania — Over the Flag Day weekend in Pennsylvania, crowds gathered, and communities were formed in the most unlikely of places, under viaducts, along gravel-filled tracks and at the base of some impressive Appalachian mountains, all just to watch as the Union Pacific’s steam locomotive No. 4014, known as “Big Boy,” rolled through northeastern Pennsylvania.The sheer presence of the locomotive drew crowds. Celebrations were formed among strangers for a couple of reasons: The locomotive is a reminder of what American engineers and laborers are capable of building. And honoring that is part of the American ethos of exceptionalism.Also, Americans just love to be part of something bigger than themselves. Yes, we will fiercely defend our individualism. But we are also uniquely aspirational about what we can do together for the greater good. This is pretty much something that we do daily when no one is looking, but social media has placed our intuitive community gathering in the spotlight.The moment was just part of a phenomenon that European soccer fans have been delightfully experiencing as they travel across our country to support their country’s team in pursuit of the World Cup.A Union Pacific steam locomotive, No. 4014, nicknamed ‘Big Boy.’ Morven via Wikimedia CommonsSocial media has been filled with fans such as “Freddy from Germany,” who unabashedly enjoys his discoveries of everyday American experiences, such as Waffle House, Walmart, and Buc-ee’s. He found out quite quickly that we love to form associations around everything, including people enjoying our country’s simple delights.Freddy’s colorful and joyful accounts are a dramatic reversal of the conventional wisdom that Europeans do not view America as an ally. A recent poll conducted by the European Council on Foreign Relations shows only 11 percent of Europeans across 15 countries view the United States as a reliable partner.The same has happened with a Scottish football fan, Shaun Hamilton. His X account has been actively posting about American hospitality, kindness and the embraces that he and countrymen have received. His posts showing the fans of the Scottish national football team taking over Boston, with thousands of kilt-clad Scots partying in Boston Harbor, attracted attention. So did his posts of the breathtaking scenes at Gillette Stadium or the George Washington statue at Fenway Park getting the classic Scottish treatment by getting crowned with a traffic cone.Perhaps my favorite moment has been watching the Scottish and Haitian fans having a dance-off in kilts ahead of the first match.Gillette Stadium at Foxborough, Massachusetts, site of planned World Cup 2026 matches, is seen on March 15, 2025. Kenneth C. Zirkel via Wikimedia CommonsAs Kyle Smith at the Wall Street Journal pointed out on Sunday, when Freddy made it to Houston, and the German soccer fans noted with awe the size of the stadium: “Alex von Tocqueville.” This humorous play on words is allied to Alexis de Tocqueville, the French nobleman and an astute observer of American society. Mr. Smith understood the plot all around us. America is a place that is unique and special, and should be celebrated.When Tocqueville came to America in 1831, just shy of 200 years ago, what he observed astonished him. His expectations, much like the expectations of the elites in Europe and our own country today, began with our “remarkable tendency to organize themselves in pursuit of shared goals.”“Americans of all ages constantly unite,” Tocqueville wrote in “Democracy in America.” “Not only do they have commercial and industrial associations, in which all take part, but they also have a thousand other kinds: religious, moral, grave, futile, very general and very particular, immense and very small.”When Tocqueville visited America, we were in an era of rapid change, not unlike today. Some were moving westward, others toward cities, others away from cities, all while building transportation systems, such as canals and roadways, to achieve that moment.The Industrial Revolution was at the center of all that cultural and political change. Our postal system was also speeding up. Our political parties were raucous, populist and changing with the times. And we were influenced by those changed by how we formed communities.Sound familiar? We are also in a moment of rapid change, building high-tech superhighways, this time through artificial intelligence and the internet. We are also moving inward this time, with some rediscovering the middle of our country while others try to remake our cities.And the technological revolution of AI is having as much of a cultural and political impact as the Industrial Revolution.What Freddy, Shaun, and all the other World Cup soccer fans are experiencing is a modern-day Tocqueville moment. Freddy and Shaun likely had no idea what to expect when arriving here. If they read the European press or the Atlantic, it was probably pretty dark. Tocqueville himself wrote that he expected to find a raw, chaotic society, which is pretty much a condensed version of the criticisms you read about America and Americans from elite news organizations today.What Tocqueville found instead were Americans who were constantly developing ways and/or tools for creating associations, both large and small — associations with wildly different interests, from small local sports and community or religious groups with little internal order to vast national networks with structures. Think the Rotary Club, NAACP, the Elks, Lions Clubs, Future Farmers of America, the Grange, and 4-H.Tocqueville was writing for a French audience. But his argument about America and Americans, and our drive to bring each other into shared experiences with both our neighbors and strangers, holds true. We are not sure to whom Freddy, Shaun, or any of the other European soccer fans were aiming to showcase their experiences.What we do know is that it has opened their world to our world, teaching both Europeans and ourselves what makes America truly exceptional: our people.Creators.com

Spirit of Alexis de Tocqueville Is Afoot as World Cup Visitors Get a Glimpse of American Exceptionalism

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