American Exceptionalism?

What does this term, American Exceptionalism, mean to you and I?

As quoted from wikipedia "Exceptionalism is the perception that a country, society, institution, movement, or time period is 'exceptional' (i.e., unusual or extraordinary) in some way and thus does not conform to normal rules or general principles"

I would like to look at it this way, what is our standing in the world? And by standing, I want to look at the quantifiable data. So lets establish a few categories that we can compare our nation to the rest of the world. And I refuse to just take the viewpoint of "We are America, We are the best in everything, Excelsior!, Exceptionalism defined"

All from NationMaster.com. This data set will be long so I wont type anything after it. Just look at our rankings in the world and know that we MUST do better. We are leading in the wrong ways! Our number ones shouldn't be plastic surgery and obesity and crime, it should be in education and others areas!

Education

Education spending (% of GDP) - 5.7% [39th of 132] Cuba with 18.7%
Literacy > Adults at high literacy level - 19% [9th of 17] Sweden with 35.5%
Literacy > Total population - 99% [20th of 160]
Mathematical literacy - 493 [18th of 27] Japan #1
Reading literacy - 504 [15th of 27] Finland #1
Scientific literacy - 499 [14th of 27] South Korea #1
Student attitude > Dislike of school - 35% [5th of 17]
Student attitude > Find school boring - 61% [2nd of 17]

Health

Abortions - 1,210,880 [2nd of 19]
Breast cancer incidence - 21.2 per 100,000 females [17th of 26]
Death from Cancer - 321.9 deaths/100,000 [9th of 16]
Heart disease deaths - 106.5 per 100,000 people [13th of 26]
Life expectancy at birth > Male - 75.29 years [48th of 226]
Life expectancy at birth > Total - 78.14 years [46th of 225]
Maternal mortality - 8 per 100,000 [121st of 136]
Obesity - 30.6% [1st of 29]
Physicians > per 1,000 people - 2.3 per 1,000 people [31st of 148]
Plastic surgery procedures - 90,992 [1st of 34]
Spending > Per person - 4,271 [1st of 133]
Suicide rate > Females - 4.4 per 100,000 people [40th of 80]
Suicide rate > Males - 19.8 per 100,000 people [30th of 80]
Teen birth rate - 64 [1st of 40]
Teenage pregnancy - 494,357 births [1st of 26]

Crime

Assault victims - 1.2% [11th of 20]
Car thefts - 1,246,096 [1st of 46]
Drug offences - 560.1 per 100,000 people [4th of 46]
Executions - 42 executions [7th of 22]
Gun violence > homicides with firearms - 39.5604 [7th of 32]
Murders - 16,204 [5nd of 49]
Murders with firearms - 9,369 [1st of 36]]
Police - 941,139 [1st of 47]
Prisoners - 2,019,234 prisoners [1st of 168]
Prisoners > Per capita - 715 per 100,000 people [1st of 164]
Rapes - 95,136 [1st of 50]
Robberies - 420,637 [2nd of 47]
Total crimes - 11,877,218 [1st of 50]
Illicit drugs
world's largest consumer of cocaine, Colombian heroin, and Mexican heroin and marijuana; major consumer of ecstasy and Mexican methamphetamine; minor consumer of high-quality Southeast Asian heroin; illicit producer of cannabis, marijuana, depressants, stimulants, hallucinogens, and methamphetamine; money-laundering center

Economy

Debt > External - $12,250,000,000,000.00 [1st of 136]
Economic freedom - 3.2 [7th of 156]
Economic importance - 197.9 [1st of 25]
Exports - $1,148,000,000,000.00 [3rd of 189]
GDP - $13,201,820,000,000.00 [1st of 203]
GDP > PPP - $11,628,083,000,000.00[1st of 163]
GDP > Real growth rate - 2% [167th of 198]
GDP per capita in 1973 - $16,607.00 [2nd of 52]
Gross National Income - $9,780,000,000,000.00 [1st of 172]
Income distribution > Richest 10% - 30.5% [54th of 114]
Population below poverty line - 12% [41st of 46]
Public debt - 60.8 % of GDP [26th of 121]
Technological achievement - 0.73 [2nd of 68]
Tourist arrivals - 47,752,000 [2nd of 152

Industry

Car production - 5,016,310 [3rd of 49]
Electrolux CO2 emissions - 377,678 metric tons [1st of 25]
Heavy truck production - 258,257 [4th of 36]
Iron ore > Mining - 54 [7th of 14]
Light commercial vehicle production - 7,000,350 [1st of 42]
Manufactures exports > % exports - 81.54 % [22nd of 156]
Manufactures imports > % imports - 71.83 % [44th of 155]
Manufacturing, annual % growth - 5.21 % [64th of 156]
Manufacturing, current US$ - 1,545,400,000,000 $ [1st of 167]
Motor vehicle production - 12,274,900 [2nd of 35]
Ores and metals exports > - 2.7% [54th of 154]
Patent applications, nonresidents - 171,935 [1st of 96]
Patent applications, residents - 185,008 [2nd of 97]


Taxation

Components > Corporate income tax - 6.7% [20th of 28]
Components > Goods and service tax - 17.6% [30th of 30]
Components > Personal income tax - 37.7% [5th of 30]
Components > Property tax - 10.1% [3rd of 18]
Contribution by middle 40% - 28.4% [13th of 14]
Contribution by poorest 30% - 6.3% [9th of 14]
Contribution by richest 30% - 65.3% [3rd of 14]
Customs > % of tax revenue - 1.82 % [48th of 82]
Highest tax rate, corporate> % - 35 % [9th of 108]
Highest tax rate, individual >, income greater than - 326,450 [1st of 93]
Highest tax rate, individual rate > % - 35 % [27th of 102]
Tax revenue > % of GDP - 11.2 % [65th of 98]
Taxes on income, profits > % of revenue - 55.26 % [2nd of 98]
Total tax rate > % of profit - 46 % [87th of 171]
Total tax wedge > Single worker - 30% [21st of 29]
Total tax wedge > Single-income family - 19.4% [21st of 29]
Total taxation as % of GDP - 29.6 % of GDP [17th of 18]