America Turns 250—But Americans Aren't Celebrating

**Michael Smerconish** (0:00)
Energy, it's more than a utility. It's what powers all life's moments and possibilities for generations to come. It's what helps build brighter futures for all. So no matter how the world and its energy needs change, Southern Company's commitment to meeting those needs stays the same. They're continuously looking forward, forecasting how to support communities and deliver clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy. And that means together, we're ready for what's next. Learn more at southerncompany.com.
Southern Company, building the future of energy.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:33)
Everyone's talking about protein lately, but how do you actually get enough of it? Muscle milk. Muscle milk has a great tasting new formula with no artificial sweeteners, flavors or added colors. It's high quality, complete protein designed to support healthy muscles with fewer ingredients than the previous formula and 26 to 42 grams of protein. But when you're stuck in meetings or need a post workout recovery, available in chocolate, vanilla cream, cookies and cream, and strawberries and cream, try the new great tasting muscle milk today. Available in stores nationwide. Muscle milk, protein for all.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:04)
Ditch the clowns on the left. And the jokers on the right.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:07)
And join Michael Smerconish right here, in the middle.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:10)
This is The Smerconish Podcast for Independent Minds.

**Michael Smerconish** (1:15)
Time flies. I said at the outset of the program today that I can't believe it's the 15th of June.
And one of the reasons why I'm mindful of that is that this semi-quincentennial seemed like such a distant idea. Oh yeah, on the 4th of July. And now it's just weeks away.
There's a story from NBC News that caught my eye in terms of where we stand in terms of how we see our country. Published under the headline poll, America at 250 is riven with doubt and pessimism, but with glimmers of hope. A lot of very interesting data as we approach that milestone. And when I saw the byline, I thought, I want to learn more. Jonathan Allen is the NBC Senior National Politics Reporter. He's an award-winning reporter, New York Times best-selling author. He's covered national politics for many, many years now with NBC News, been on the program before, and we always enjoy his company. This is Jonathan Allen. John, nice to see you. What stands out to you about the data that you've just parsed and analyzed?

**Jonathan Allen** (2:22)
Hey, it's great to be with you, Michael, and with your listeners again. Here are a couple of things that stood out to me. I think the biggest number was the question that we asked on whether the American dream is easier or harder to attain now than it was a generation ago. Seventy-eight percent of people said it's harder to attain.
Five percent of people said it's easier to attain. I mean, think about that.
We all think about the American dream. What this country means, opportunity, entrepreneurialism, innovation. Can you move from where you were born, maybe up in class, and people are saying overwhelmingly that it's harder to do that. If you go inside the numbers a little bit, what you find is that that's actually across classes, that whether you're poor, middle-class, upper-middle-class, wealthy, you think the dream is harder to attain than it used to be. There's agreement on the broad sense of it, whether or not you're somebody who has succeeded economically in this country. It's also, you know, basically across parties, it's, you know, across the board. It's 78% saying it's harder to attain. Very few people, 5% think it's easier to attain. The other thing that really stood out, Michael, is what I call the windshield versus rearview mirror. How do people feel about whether the country's best days are ahead of it or the best days are behind us? 58% think the best days are behind us. 38% think the best days are ahead of us. And so when we talk about a bleak outlook on where the United States is at its 250th birthday, those are the numbers that jumped out the most to me.

**Michael Smerconish** (4:05)
Okay, but the play, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play? Is there anything in this?
Wherein lies the reason for optimism?

**Jonathan Allen** (4:14)
You know, it's been a long time since I've been compared to Mary Todd Lincoln. I think I'm at least a little taller than she was.
Yeah, look, there are slivers of silver lining here. You know, the big one that jumped out is that 54% of Americans think that we all share some core values that make us Americans. And then, you know, 44%, which is a significant number, but a minority think that we do not share core values across the American polity. So I see that as a little bit of a silver lining, a place for us to start to come back as a people. You know, I know you discuss this a lot on your show, you know, just how divided people are and why that doesn't always make sense for people to be divided, that there is a lot of commonality among Americans. And so even those who don't see it may at least be experiencing it some.