Posted on 12/05/2018 5:15:52 PM PST by Kaslin
Amid this holiday season of reflection, I'm thinking about America's future.
A new poll from Gallup serves up some sobering data regarding how young Americans feel about their country.
Gallup asked the question, "Do you think the U.S. has a unique character that makes it the greatest country in the world, or don't you think so?"
Eighty percent said "yes," America is the greatest country, in 2010 and 78 percent said yes in 2018.
However, among 18- to 34-year-olds, 80 percent said yes in 2010 but this dropped by 18 percentage points in 2018 to 62 percent.
It's troubling to think that now 4 out of 10 young Americans do not see their nation as exceptional and the greatest in the world.
Maybe there is a sense creeping into our youth that America is no longer the land of opportunity that it once was.
In a 2017 Pew Research Global Attitudes and Trends survey, only 37 percent of Americans said they believed so when asked, "When children today grow up, will they be better off financially than their parents?" This compared with 82 percent in China (in 2016), 69 percent in Chile and 50 percent in Israel.
According to recent data from the Brookings Institution, just 50 percent of those born in 1984 earn more than their parents, compared with 61 percent of those born in 1970 and 79 percent of those born in 1950.
But if America's youth are losing a sense that this is a land of dreams, this sentiment doesn't seem to be shared by the million immigrants who arrive in the U.S. every year.
According to a new study by the National Foundation for American Policy, 55 percent of privately held startup companies in the U.S. now worth more than a billion dollars were started by immigrants from 25 different countries.
The study reports that the collective value of these firms founded by immigrants is $248 billion and each company employs an average of 1,200 people.
Most of these immigrant entrepreneurs came to the U.S. to study as international students and chose to stay and become citizens. However, some arrived as refugees and were sponsored by family members.
This all tells me that America is still a land of dreams and opportunity. Are there things wrong with this country? Certainly. But there still is plenty that is right.
Those who choose to uproot from nations all over the world to come here and start their lives anew are interested in what is right, not what is wrong.
I like this quote from former TV personality Art Linkletter, who observed, "Things turn out the best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."
There's an important point here. Success is not just about one's circumstances, but also what is happening inside of each individual -- one's character.
The holidays are a good time to think about this.
I suggest two things. First, let's look at what is right about America. And second, let every American ask themselves if they truly believe they are the best they can be, and if not, why not?
Let's each take personal responsibility to make ourselves and our country as great as possible and stop thinking that it's others and circumstances that block our path.
I think the nation would soar, even with the things that are wrong, if all Americans got out of bed each morning with the sense that what happens to them is not because of anything but what they themselves choose to do. And, if at the same time, we related to ourselves and everyone else as created in the image of God.
We all would discover how much power each of us has and we all would discover how great America is, because it is free.
Public schools were not yet fully leftist indoctrination centers in 2010. They are now. The answer is to 100% boycott government-run schools. It’s sad but true, but it’s the only way.
We’re just coming out of a decade-long stretch of some of the worst economic conditions ever in the US, and the previous decade wasn’t much better. The things that older Americans consider exceptional about the country didn’t happen for younger ones. The young got financial bubbles and identity politics, not a land of capitalism and opportunity.
“It’s troubling to think that now 4 out of 10 young Americans do not see their nation as exceptional and the greatest in the world.”
Well, let’s see...Public Schools as Indoctrination Stations for the FATHERLESS children of the past generations?
Mission Accomplished! *SPIT*
P.S. I DO like Star Parker! :)
Throw in $20T in debt, older generations having another $50t in unfunded entitlement obligations. Jacking up school costs, loan laws, ... if i would look at the boomers and say F off also. Sad. We cashed checks against their future and are now surprised they aren’t all USA chanting we’re #1 patriots. Hate to say it but we might have squandered their civic inheritance. (We meaning GG, boomers and the older gen-x)
Only recently, in human history, did the concept arise that each generation would be "better off financially" than the previous one. The idea that, if this happened once or twice, it should continue for eternity never had any statistical probability. I figure that some of my children have the potential to out-earn their father, and some don't. That's just reality.
Stepping from the general to the particular, one thing that happens is that children may have different values from their parents, and may not care about exceeding their parents' wealth. Beyond a median level of comfort, increases in income/wealth do not correlate with happier lives. Wealth is never sufficient for life satisfaction: there is always someone with more.
And it will only get worse as leftist take over more & more.
No.
It's not troubling. It's completely predictable.
Young white voters consistently vote 50%-55% for the Republican Party.
Unfortunately, more than half of the Americans who turn 18 this year are non-white, and they vote 80% for the Democrat Party.
I will estimate that about half the people on this thread support massive LEGAL immigration.
This is exactly what happens when you deliberately import 20 million Third World socialists.
>>>I will estimate that about half the people on this thread support massive LEGAL immigration<<<
Uh, okay... LOL
To me what is going to be good on 15 years after Ariz fla nv and texas are all blue ?
I think Tucker has hit the nail right on the head. Our young cannot afford a family and a home so the “elite” have to import Third World people who will have a family they can’t afford. Any day now I suspect “normies” to wake up.
They could not be more wrong.
We have a God given right to our freedoms only.
Our standard of living is entirely dependent upon how willing we are to outwork and outcompete others.
Philosophically, at least. In practice, our "right to our freedoms" is rapidly going the way of the "right to life," which is down the drain, traded for the junk goods of ease and license.
(If someone else had typed that, I would reply, "Thank you, Debbie Downer!")
> I will estimate that about half the people on this thread support massive LEGAL immigration.
Checking in. I support negative immigration. I want everyone who isn’t a citizen and on a legal path to become one out.
Everyone. I don’t care how important or special they are.
As evidence of our decline is the rat-enforced norm of viewing EVERYTHING through the lens of party affiliation.
If true, it’s because our educational system has taught them nothing, except propaganda. From K-College.
Immigration has been my number one issue at Free Republic since 2005.
I probably post once a week on it, so I have literally dealt with thousands of Freepers on this issue in the last thirteen years.
In my opinion, people who want a huge, dramatic reduction in LEGAL immigration are clearly a minority at Free Republic.
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