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Our nation's 250th Birthday is just around the corner, but pessimism about the U.S. and its form of government skews young.
According to a new poll, fewer Americans, especially younger Americans, see their country as exceptional.
Be informed, not misled.
PBS News reports that an Associated Press/NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey finds only about half of Americans under 30 believe democracy is a key element of the U.S. identity, compared with 81% of those 60 and older.
Quoting the Associated Press, PBS says, "As the U.S. prepares for an extravagant celebration of its founding principles, fewer Americans see their country as exceptional, a new poll finds."
The survey highlights many Americans' unease about the future of their representative government — particularly among young people. It presents a jarring contrast as communities around the country commemorate the nation's 250th anniversary.
PBS notes that "Only about one-quarter of Americans say the U.S. stands above all other countries in the world, the new poll found, while 44% say it's one of the greatest countries in the world, along with some others. About 3 in 10 say there are better countries than the U.S., an increase from 19% in an AP-NORC poll conducted in June 2016."
Americans remain divided over whether diversity is an essential feature of the U.S. identity, and agreement on other aspects of the country's underlying character appears to be eroding, the survey found. Americans are less likely to see a democratically elected government as "extremely" or "very" important to the United States' national identity than they were just a few years ago. About two-thirds ( 66%) of U.S. adults now say a democratically elected government is highly important to the U.S.'s identity as a nation, down from 80% in 2021.
"It's the people that are actually being put in office that are the problem."
"It's not that the democracy part is not working," said Derricka Wall, 24, of Chickasaw, Alabama. "It's the people that are actually being put in office that are the problem."
Wall believes politicians have damaged America's governing system, which was designed to ensure representation and guard against government misuse.
"America," she said, "is not what it used to be. I feel like our founding fathers would be kind of disappointed with how it is now."
Alex McFarland and Robert Knight have weighed in on this issue:
Alex McFarland of Truth for a New Generation says an old heresy is raising its ugly head again in the country.
“Younger people and younger adults have been enamored with socialism,” McFarland says.
But in a real sense, Americans now are richer than any people of any country at any time in history. Even the poor in America have luxuries that the kings of yesteryear would have envied, like cars, phones, and shopping malls.
McFarland says young Americans simply don't realize it.
“It's almost like this superficial empathy, housing costs and food costs, and the American Dream is just financially out of reach for so many people,” McFarland states.
He says envy drives socialism, hence the dissatisfaction with today's youth.
“And then you've got Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and billionaires. How is it just that billionaires exist when I can't afford a car payment?” McFarland questions.
The poll also finds that only about one-quarter of Americans say the U.S. stands above all other countries in the world, while 3 in 10 say there are better countries than the U.S, an increase from 19% in 2016.
McFarland lays that fallacy at the feet of American educators.
“It's just borderline treasonous that public education and the pop media, the talking heads on The View and Jimmy Kimmel and Colbert — I mean, they for years and years have denigrated America,” McFarland says.
Perhaps not surprisingly, 57% of Republicans say the American Dream still holds true, compared with about one-quarter of Independents and 17% of Democrats. Republicans are also much likelier than Democrats to see the U.S. as exceptional, and about half of Republicans say the U.S. stands above all other countries in the world, compared with only 7% of Democrats.
Robert Knight:
Robert Knight, conservative activist and columnist for the Washington Times, says it is not surprising that only a tiny percentage of Democrats believe America is a special country.
"The poll shows that young people in particular aren't proud of their country anymore. It's not surprising that only 7% of Democrats believe the U.S. stands above all other countries in the world. They don't think America is particularly special," Knight states.
Knight thinks it's because the left has done so much to bring America to its knees.
"With unlimited immigration, millions of people who shouldn't be here, they have hammered away at the foundations of marriage and the moral order. They pushed homosexuality, transgenderism, and higher taxes,” says Knight. “They've done everything to bring America down, and they've conveyed support for this through the government schools. The major teachers' unions are controlled by Marxists."
Takeaway
I agree with both, but Knight nailed it.
In the beginning, Noah Webster and others who helped found our public school system drew heavily from the Bible for education resources. It's a matter of record.
However, atheism, secularism, humanism, and cultural Marxism were soon imported from France, Germany, and England after the Constitution was written, and after the death of most of our Founding Fathers.
It had little effect on America until the latter part of the nineteenth century, when MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) became the first college in America to be founded by atheists. It was founded in 1861, 72 years after our founding. Previously, all the colleges in America had been founded by Christians.
This was followed in the twentieth century by cultural Marxists and the atheists' gradual takeover of teachers' colleges.
Eventually, it was at Columbia University that John Dewey and his secular disciples infused a fully secular progressive education into the American public school system. It became the foundation of what we have today: A secular, morally bankrupt, failing education system that has misled and indoctrinated the past 3 generations.
The schools then began expelling prayer and all references to religion, particularly Christianity.
Unfortunately, with religious teaching went the moral training and character-building that had long been part of our once-great education system.
Then came the attack on patriotism.
We now have a generation of permissive educators and media people who look on religion as a threat rather than a stabilizing force in society.
And a generation of kids that have bought the lie.
The United States was founded on more Biblical principles than any other country in world history.
This is the secret of the greatness of America.
Those principles originally permeated our education system, courts, public life, religious life, and our economic system, producing what President Ronald Reagan called "traditional values."
Today, our public schools are generally putting students into the world who know the art of demonstrating and rioting while playing the role of the oppressed.
They are embracing socialism because it's cool. It's "in."
A return to our founding faith in God is the answer to the cultural issues we face today.
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Prayerful.
