<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oX1w!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8cb7c62-03a1-4468-bdab-95a0d2b67818_1200x675.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oX1w!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8cb7c62-03a1-4468-bdab-95a0d2b67818_1200x675.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oX1w!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8cb7c62-03a1-4468-bdab-95a0d2b67818_1200x675.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oX1w!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8cb7c62-03a1-4468-bdab-95a0d2b67818_1200x675.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oX1w!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8cb7c62-03a1-4468-bdab-95a0d2b67818_1200x675.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oX1w!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8cb7c62-03a1-4468-bdab-95a0d2b67818_1200x675.jpeg" width="1200" height="675" data-attrs="{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d8cb7c62-03a1-4468-bdab-95a0d2b67818_1200x675.jpeg","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":675,"width":1200,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":207995,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/jpeg","href":null,"belowTheFold":false,"topImage":true,"internalRedirect":"https://leightonwoodhouse.substack.com/i/204436155?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8cb7c62-03a1-4468-bdab-95a0d2b67818_1200x675.jpeg","isProcessing":false,"align":null,"offset":false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oX1w!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8cb7c62-03a1-4468-bdab-95a0d2b67818_1200x675.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oX1w!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8cb7c62-03a1-4468-bdab-95a0d2b67818_1200x675.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oX1w!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8cb7c62-03a1-4468-bdab-95a0d2b67818_1200x675.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oX1w!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8cb7c62-03a1-4468-bdab-95a0d2b67818_1200x675.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>For America’s 250th, <a href="https://unherd.com/2026/07/american-democracy-was-born-in-feudal-europe/">I wrote this piece</a> about democracy and the myth of American exceptionalism for UnHerd.</p><p>Hope you’ll give it a read.</p><p>—LW</p>

For America’s 250th, I wrote this piece about democracy and the myth of American exceptionalism for UnHerd. Hope you’ll give it a read. —LW

<a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oX1w!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8cb7c62-03a1-4468-bdab-95a0d2b67818_1200x675.jpeg" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a><p>For America’s 250th, <a href="https://unherd.com/2026/07/american-democracy-was-born-in-feudal-europe/" rel="noopener noreferrer">I wrote this piece</a> about democracy and the myth of American exceptionalism for UnHerd.</p><p>Hope you’ll give it a read.</p><p>—LW</p>

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Unexceptional

Unexceptional