I think an argument could be made that there were always two America's. There was the America of the slaveholders, and also the America of the abolitionists. There was the America of the slaveholders, and the America that saw some of the earliest labor unions. Marx seemed to think highly of the potential of America. He would be disappoined today if saw what it has become; but do you really that potential was never there or is completely dead? Is there any reason we can't claim that America that never was as are own? Is there any reason it cannot have the name of America:
http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/Hughes-America-Again1938.htm
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>Let America be America Again
>LANGSTON HUGHES 1938
(>Originally published in Esquire and in the International Worker Order pamphlet A New Song (1938))
>Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let
it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is
free.
>(America never was America to me.)
>Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed-- Let it be that great
strong land of love Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme That
any man be crushed by one above.
>(It never was America to me.)
>O, let my land be a land where Liberty Is crowned with no false
patriotic wreath, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality
is in the air we breathe.
>(There's never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this "homeland of
the free.")
>Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? And who are you that draws
your veil across the stars?
>I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing
slavery's scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the
immigrant clutching the hope I seek-- And finding only the same old
stupid plan Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
>I am the young man, full of strength and hope, Tangled in that
ancient endless chain Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land! Of
grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need! Of work the men!
Of take the pay! Of owning everything for one's own greed!
<...> (as they say - follow the link, read the rest.
You probably have heard this before - especially if you have hung around with old-time commies. But tell me this gives one inch to American exceptionalism. It insists that the best of our dreams are as truly American as the worst realities of our history, and challenges us build on the best instead of the worst.