The American Experiment Is Still Worth Fighting For

And it’s vital that we remind future generations why that is.

(Daniel Bendjy/Getty Images)

The future of liberal democracy in the United States has arguably never felt so tenuous. Over just the past few decades, the country has been convulsed by war, recession, homegrown violence, a once-in-a-century pandemic, economic disruption, rapid technological change, sweeping social and political movements, the rise of both a reactionary right-wing and illiberal left-wing, the pernicious effects of climate change, suffocating polarization, heated debates over immigration, and debates over what it even means to be an American. We’ve come to lose trust in everything from experts and core institutions to each other.

All this has taken a toll on the country’s collective psyche—and especially that of its youngest citizens. Recent surveys have made eminently clear just how pessimistic young Americans are about their country and its future. In an April NBC/Public Opinion Strategies poll, only a third of Gen Z respondents said that patriotism was a “very important” value to them and that America was the best place to live, compared to 76 percent and 66 percent, respectively, of Baby Boomers. Over half (51 percent) of young Americans said they would consider permanently relocating to another country (compared to just 17 percent of those aged 55 and older). The survey also noted that for the first time ever, the U.S. had fallen out of the top 20 countries in the World Happiness Report. This was driven overwhelmingly by our youngest generations, who ranked 62nd compared to their global peers, whereas Americans 60 and older ranked tenth.

In May, the new project Blueprint released a report in which they tested a series of statements to gauge what, exactly, younger Americans thought was wrong with their country. Among the statements that received at least 50 percent support:

• “America is in decline.” (64 percent)

• “America has a history of racism and discrimination that is worse than most countries.” (55 percent)

• “It is accurate to describe America as a ‘hellscape,’ ‘dystopia,’ or ‘dying empire.’” (50 percent)

Again, given the profound changes and tumult the U.S. has faced in recent years, some of this is perfectly understandable, but it’s also hard not to also see some of it as an overcorrection to how America has historically taught young generations about its history. It is true that for decades, as the country emerged from World War II the lone global superpower and entered the throes of the Cold War against the Soviet Union, U.S. history often promoted blind patriotism while downplaying the darker chapters of our history. An honest accounting of the past is necessary (and even healthy) for any country to avoid repeating mistakes in the future.

But an overemphasis on America’s problems, without any regard for the obvious good it has done in the world and for its citizens—or an equally serious treatment of the ideas the country was founded on—carries immense destabilizing risks as well. By contrast, fostering genuine feelings of patriotism makes people happier, leads to greater civic participation, and strengthens social bonds, trust, and compassion between fellow countrymen and women.

So, as the United States approaches its 248th birthday, we should take the opportunity to remind ourselves of what it is that still makes America a country to be proud of and worth fighting for—and how we can impart this on future generations. To help do this, I want to offer some context about the American experiment that should be a core part of discussions and instructions around our nation’s history.

America was founded on a set of aspirational ideals, which were radical for the time and remain relevant today.

Something most of us likely learned in school (but some seem to have forgotten) is that the United States was the first country in history not to be founded on a shared, immutable trait but rather an idea: that all people, regardless of identity, are created equal and have fundamental rights. We set out to build a country committed to enlightenment-era values like religious pluralism, democratic self-governance, and economic freedom—a sharp departure from most of human history when societies were formed around rigid parameters like a common language, ethnicity, religion, or land and people’s rights were limited.

Of course, the U.S. has not always lived up to these values, and not everyone has had the same opportunity to access these rights and freedoms. Young people might lament that this is because the U.S. Constitution was written by “old white men.”¹ But the ideals laid out in it still offer a roadmap for bettering ourselves: the American project is one that constantly tries to improve—or, to borrow a phrase from the document, create a “more perfect” union. If we’re to be the welcoming and inclusive country that so many American youth want to see, we should acknowledge that the vision of the founders, however imperfectly they practiced it, is worth remaining loyal to—and even bettering.

No society in history has been devoid of racial or ethnic tensions—or figured out how to successfully sustain a multiracial democracy.

As evidenced above, part of what contributes to young people’s cynicism about the U.S. is the fact that we’ve struggled with issues of race and racism since our founding. To be sure, the treatment of racial minorities for much of America’s history has been a stain on our character. However, it’s important to remember that race-based tensions are not unique to the United States. In fact, due to our history, we have had a lot longer to grapple with issues of racial differences than other Western countries—and thus may be much further ahead of many of them in some key ways.

Look no further than Europe, a region of the world thought to be more socially progressive. Many European countries are historically quite racially homogeneous, and across multiple measures, Europeans actually tend to have less favorable views of diversity and immigration than Americans do. Now, as their populations undergo massive changes, many of those countries are experiencing the same type of nativist backlash that has hit America in the past.²

The thing is, it’s hard to establish and maintain multiracial, liberal democracies. Coexisting in relative peace with people who have very different identities from us is not the natural state of humanity. For most of history, humans banded together in tribes with others with whom we had shared traits, and we evolved to view anyone who did not as potential threats to us and our tribes—often leading to violent conflict. So, although younger Americans may view the reality of living in a diverse country as an ordinary fact of life, it’s actually an aberration from the norm.

With that long history in mind, the U.S. deserves a world of credit for developing values and devising a system of governance to help humans overcome that evolutionary biology and pave the way for societies in which people of all kinds of identities could live together. We have been remarkably successful at helping newcomers assimilate into our culture while many other countries have struggled to do the same. All this was made possible by the fact that our founders set out to build a society in which belonging didn’t depend on one’s superficial traits.

Who tends to have the most optimistic and clear views of the U.S. and what it stands for? Immigrants and foreigners.

If native-born Americans need a reality check about the lives we often take for granted here, they can talk to one of our most patriotic groups: immigrants. According to a 2019 Cato Institute study, upwards of 70 percent of newcomers say they are “proud of being American.” They are also far less likely (~40 percent) than native-born Americans (~70 percent) to say they are “ashamed of some aspects of America.” And immigrants were 10 points likelier than natives to say that “the world would be better if people from other countries were more like Americans.”

One of America’s more high-profile immigrants, journalist Fareed Zakaria, recently highlighted the fact that many countries continue to believe the U.S. generally uses its leadership for good—and prefer us to any of the obvious alternatives, such as Russia and China. For example, in a 2023 survey of 24 high- and middle-income countries, the Pew Research Center gauged global attitudes on American versus Chinese leadership. Twenty-two of those countries had a more favorable view overall of the U.S., and 23 believed America contributed more to “peace and stability” around the world than China. All 24 said they preferred America over China when it comes to standards of living and respecting the rights of their people.

Additionally, Zakaria pointed to a 2024 Ipsos/King’s College London poll documenting views of America’s global influence across several countries, and he noted a mind-boggling—even alarming—finding:

In the Ipsos-KCL poll, people in most countries viewed U.S. influence on the world stage more favorably than they did in 2019—with one notable exception: in the United States itself. The loss of confidence among Americans in their own country’s vitality, strength and virtue is profoundly worrying.

Profoundly worrying indeed.

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Is America the greatest country in the world? It’s a question that has been debated for decades, both at home and abroad, and one whose answer will likely never fully be resolved. But one would be hard-pressed to argue that it’s not at least in the top tier. The idea of America—that it’s a place where hard-working people, regardless of their identity, can make of their lives what they want, have their basic rights and freedoms respected, and live in relative peace and security—is one worth defending, even when we struggle to live up to it. And it’s certainly an idea we must continue to remind future generations of, lest we lose the values that bind us together and make us truly great.

1. It’s at least worth noting that over a third of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence were under 40 years old!

2. There also continue to be blatant acts of racism at sporting events in Europe that are exceedingly rare in the U.S.