What makes America exceptional is the fact that it had founders. America was a startup, and the Founders have given it a head start. Thomas Jefferson was concerned about America's ability to continue operating in the founder mode. He feared that, as the country developed, its government would swell and would eventually catch up with its European counterparts in size and the degree of tyranny.
For Jefferson, territorial expansion was a safety valve, a check on the uncontrolled growth of the powers of the Federal government. Territorial expansion would bring competition, as citizens would flee westward in search of freedoms. The threat of citizens voting with their feet and the competition from neighbouring states would keep American governments in check, Jefferson thought.
Jefferson's belief in the escape valve that is the West is echoed in the Silicon Valley ethos. Once it became impossible to move westward physically, American businesses and many of America's denizens moved into the tech sector, in search of novelty and in the hope that it would take time for the regulatory state to catch up.
America will remain exceptional as long as there always remains another frontier to settle.
