The 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.
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.
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 in any time in history. Even the poor in America have luxuries that the kings of yesteryear would have envied, like cars and 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, 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."
