At 250 years, divides deepen in U.S.

Fourth of July celebrations are now behind us, but the year will bring additional events as we continue to observe the 250 years since the declaration of our nation’s independence.

Various pollsters have been busy trying to capture our views about the present and our future during this historical year. The results of a recent NBC News poll have not presented an optimistic picture about where we are and where we might be headed in the future.

A significant finding is we have lost confidence in our leading private and public institutions, except for our military. The loss of confidence in our federal government has been particularly dramatic over the last ten years with 52% of those polled revealing they have little or no confidence in Washington DC compared to only 34% who felt the same in 2016. Congress fares the worst among our federal institutions with 56% of respondents indicating little or no confidence. There are partisan differences in the findings. Liberals have lost more confidence in Congress and the Supreme Court than is true of Conservatives while Conservatives have expressed the lowest level of confidence in the national news media, colleges and universities and public schools.

All the findings coincide with emergence of Donald Trump as America’s dominant political personality over the last 10 years.

Under Trump’s governance Congress has become dysfunctional and the executive branch has pulled back on delivering the goods and services that have the greatest impact on the overall well-being and welfare of the American public.

At the same time the U.S. Supreme Court has endorsed the unitary executive theory in all cases except where the statutory or Constitutional language restraints on executive power are so clear that the six Conservative justices could not ignore them (but three could). The MAGA supporters find fewer problems with this reality, thus explaining partisan differences in institutional confidence polling.

This loss of confidence in our leading private and public institutions has impacted our belief in the American dream, which envisions hard individual work leading to financial success and happiness regardless of our starting economic or social status.

In 2016, 69% of those polled stated they believed it was more difficult to realize the American dream than in the past while in 2026 ,78% of those polled believed the American dream was more difficult to achieve. Trump’s domination in American politics during that period apparently has caused Americans to doubt the message of the American dream more than ever before.

Yet another finding of the NBC News poll revealed a decline in American pride. While Lee Greenwod had made a living with his 1984 hit “God Bless The USA”, Americans are not all feeling the same way.

With the start of the Trump era in 2017, 82% of Americans polled stated they were extremely or very proud of the USA. Today, 56% of those polled feel the same way.

Years of reducing taxes for the very wealthy while reducing Medicaid and SNAP by $1 trillion; Ice and Border Patrol assaults against and killing of citizens and noncitizens; an optional war in Iran with a predictable poor conclusion; paying homage to Putin while abandoning Ukraine; insulting our NATO allies and disbanding USAID resulting in the death of an estimated 750,000 of Earth’s most impoverished humans can do that to American pride.

Still, I along with most Americans include being an American as a part of our personal identity. Consider too the throng of American fans on the edge of liberal San Francisco cheering “USA, USA” after the USMNT victory over Bosnia as evidence we still have some pride in our nation.

We read every day about the sharp bipolarization in American politics which has become more pronounced during the age of Trump. Have we become so divided in what we embrace as fundamental values that we may never again stand united as Americans? NBC News polling reveals that 54% of us believe our differences have more to do with policies and issues than with differences regarding sharing common values like liberty, equality, free elections and freedom of expression and religion.

E pluribus unum gave us hope in 1776. The same understanding of diversity as a national strength may provide us with vitality in the future.