[rickmb]

> Now the entire world is participating

The entire world has been "participating" for centuries, long before the US even existed.

You may have picked up on that in your life outside the US.

[mseebach]

Now the entire world is participating in the way of doing things that the US pioneered in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The US was indeed exceptional for most of this time. It's not anymore, but it's more because the rest of the world caught up, not so much because the US stopped (although resting on laurels has certainly slowed it down).