Welcome to this week’s Bill Harvey Blog.
July 17, 2026
We are being tested the way Job was tested.
It was a setup. Starting way back in the 1960s. As early as the 1960s, as documented by Yoni Applebaum in this month’s issue of The Atlantic, the way that American history was taught in schools bifurcated into two warring narratives. One emphasized the American ideals of what we have always aspired to be, and have generally been, to our own people and in our dealings around the world. The other narrative told it like it was, warts and all, not pulling punches about our imperfections, even as we were getting better year after year.
By 2001, when George W. Bush and Congress created No Child Left Behind, they dodged the bullet on setting a single standard for the teaching of history. The unintended net effect was to virtually mute the teaching of American idealism in schools for the past quarter of a Century. Although the trend toward subordinating American history as a school subject started back in the 1960s.
Can we see any effects that might be traceable to this change in the way schools have taught about what America means and is?
An AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that about two-thirds (67%) of U.S. adults say a democratically elected government is highly important to the nation’s identity. Conversely, this means roughly 33% of Americans do not see it as extremely or very important—a significant jump from 2021, when 80% viewed it as highly vital.*
The Generational Divide: Apathy or detachment is heavily concentrated among younger generations. Only 50% of Americans under 30 believe democracy is a key element of the U.S.’s identity, compared to 81% of those ages 60 and older.
Rather than outright hostility toward democracy, experts note that this detachment often stems from a growing belief among everyday citizens—especially younger generations—that the political system is fundamentally broken, corrupt, or simply failing to address their day-to-day problems.
If they had been taught the way the Old Guard had been taught, some of our current problems might never have been possible.
I’m not preaching in favor of whitewashing, but in favor of telling not only all the good and bad details, but also the philosophical drivers for why there is a USA designed the way it is. The ideals, the values, the logic, and reasoning based on deep studies of pre-American history and the types of governing systems there had been and how they fared. The Founders didn’t just make it up. They never claimed that they had received the Light from Above. They had assimilated Enlightenment philosophies and had studied history going as far back as it goes. They debated for 17 years from 1774 to 1791. 17 years to get it right.
And get it right they did. No republic has ever lasted as long as we have.
But loopholes existed. And things that The Founders had warned us against, like the two-party system happened despite their warnings. And the things that Washington said would happen if we went to a two-party system, have now happened big time. The people who felt that their Party was shrinking away found a leader who found those loopholes and has leveraged them. At a time when the schools had pressed the pause button for too long on reminding us of our ideals.
Even when idealism was being taught in schools, we have always, as citizens, not been 100% engaged. Other interests occupied our attention, for most of us, and only a fraction of us (usually around 40%) voted in elections. Socrates, who was all for having a republic, felt that it was a citizen’s duty to serve that republic, might have been shocked to see how lackadaisical the majority of Americans have always been about chipping in some time to serve in the role of engaged citizens.
In the 2024 US presidential election, approximately 85.9 million eligible voters did not cast a ballot. While 2024 tied the highest voter turnout rate in over a century (tied with 1960), the 85.9 million people who sat it out actually outnumbered the total votes cast for either major candidate.
This goes back to the feeling that none of us can do anything to change the inept, corrupt, and distracted from the needs of The People system as it now is. People who don’t vote feel that if they did vote, it would make no difference. As Simon & Garfunkel wrote and sang, “Going to the candidates’ debate, Laugh about it, shout about it, When you’ve got to choose, Every way you look at it, you lose.”
So, we’ve been set up to be tested, prepared by a quarter century of not teaching our own brand of American pragmatic idealism in schools, supported by the most successful governance system in world history and spoiled by it so as to take its benefits and our rights for granted without needing to lift a finger or even vote. And now, if we fail to stand up and be counted, and to vote against the removal of our rights to freedom of speech and assembly, cynicism and low meanness and corruption more blatant than ever before by an order of magnitude, the test will result in a longer period of learning to pass it.
That’s the way that the Universe works. It teaches us things. It first tries teaching it to us in ways that are fun. If we don’t get it, it teaches us with a few hard knocks. If we still don’t get it, the knocks get harder and harder the longer we cling to obstinacy and refusal to open our minds and eyes and see what the Universe is trying to tell us.
As the Father of Our Nation warned us, we might be obstinate because of the two-party system and what it has done to make us feel that the political party we cling to is vital to our personal identity. It is not. Our personal identity is unique in the Universe; it has nothing to do with which teams we root for.
Pass the test. Help us all pass the test. Plan to vote no matter what. Show what you’re made of.
And then when we have retaken our country and are again recognized as the seat of all governing power, “We, The People,” we have some loopholes to fix. In a moment of forgiveness, sometime in the future, we will thank the folks who called those loopholes to our attention so we could fix them before some more talented, more professional, more intelligent baddies come along and find them.
*However, according to a PBS News/NPR/Marist poll released in July 2026, the overwhelming majority of Americans are deeply concerned:
- 82% of Americans believe that the future of American democracy faces a serious threat.
- This worry spans across the political spectrum: 74% of Republicans, 83% of independents, and 91% of Democrats share this view.
In that same poll, it was found that 84% of us feel that we know too little about history.
My best wishes to all,
