Yesterday, results of a Wall Street Journal poll caused consternation among some conservative commentators and, perhaps, glee in some precincts of the American left. According to the poll, the percentage of Americans who believe patriotism is “very important to them personally” fell from 70 percent in 1998 to 61 percent in 2019 and then all the way to 38 percent this year. The percentage of Americans who believe religion is very important to them personally fell from 62 to 48 to 39 during the same years.
I am supremely skeptical of the sanguine readings. Almost anyone can sense that something has palpably snapped in the United States, since 2019 in particular. The nation has been consumed with all kinds of insanity since then, gripping wide swaths of the public. There are reasons to be optimistic that whatever nation remains in this part of the world will be prosperous for some time, due to the advantages conferred by geography. But will its values bear any resemblance whatsoever to what we have known, and to anything that can be considered admirable and decent? It seems that there is good reason to be despondent. We are going through a revolutionary moment, it would appear, that is tearing at the most fundamental fabric of the American identity and character. Abe Greenwald is almost certainly too optimistic. And it sounds trite to say this, but something is definitely not right with the youth.
I am supremely skeptical of the sanguine readings. Almost anyone can sense that something has palpably snapped in the United States, since 2019 in particular. The nation has been consumed with all kinds of insanity since then, gripping wide swaths of the public. There are reasons to be optimistic that whatever nation remains in this part of the world will be prosperous for some time, due to the advantages conferred by geography. But will its values bear any resemblance whatsoever to what we have known, and to anything that can be considered admirable and decent? It seems that there is good reason to be despondent. We are going through a revolutionary moment, it would appear, that is tearing at the most fundamental fabric of the American identity and character. Abe Greenwald is almost certainly too optimistic. And it sounds trite to say this, but something is definitely not right with the youth.