Penna Dexter

A recent poll by The Wall Street Journal and NORC, at the University of Chicago, reveals that some of the core values that have traditionally united Americans are much less important to us than in the recent past.

When this survey was conducted in 1998, 70 percent of respondents said patriotism was important to them. In 2019, 61 percent said so. Just 4 years later, in 2023, only 39 percent of Americans saw patriotism as important.

Religion took a steep drop — from 62 percent in ’98 to 39 percent this year. So did having children. In 1998, 59 percent thought it was important. Now 30 percent do.

A 35-point decline in Americans who hold community involvement as a key value is perhaps explained by Covid isolation. Let’s hope it doesn’t persist.

The poll results raise concerns about national vitality and even survival. Having children was important to only 23 percent of respondents under 30. Libby Emmons, Editor in Chief for Human Events and The Post Millennial, is disturbed about what the poll says about millennials. In her Human Events column, she writes “they don’t want to work, they don’t want to be tolerant of others. The only value that has risen is the importance of money.”

Ms. Emmons points to the rise in identity politics as a major factor behind these results. She points out that we have become a nation of factions, “divided against itself” and “none of us needed The Wall Street Journal to tell us so.

The progressive Left — in education, media, and government — is fueling this. Leaders elevate race as a measure of worth in law and policy. They decree gender agendas that disregard biological and biblical truth. President Biden’s proposed rule prohibiting most bans on transgender athletes in school sports is the latest example.

We are destroying our country from within.