DOBBS: An alarming new report tonight. The United States, according to that report, is in danger of losing its national identity. The study warns that identity politics and the influence of socio-ethnocentric special interest groups are simply overcoming our common identity as Americans first. Bill Tucker with the report.
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BILL TUCKER, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The report is titled, "E Pluribus Unum," for many, one. It warns that we're in danger of becoming the opposite, from one, many. It is the work of the Bradley project, a non-profit group based in Wisconsin, dedicated to what it calls America's national identity. Its survey of 2,400 Americans contains some troubling findings.
PROF JIM CEASER, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: There is apprehension, too, about the depth of current division, with 80 percent of Americans registering concern about the amount of the division between ethnic and cultural groups in the United States...
TUCKER: Sixty-three percent of Americans believe our national identity is weakening, 24 percent believe we're so divided that a common identity is not possible. The report lays the blames on our failure to teach and understand our own history, noting America is not a nation founded on a common ethnicity, but an idea. And ideas must actively carried forward, noting, "Knowing what America stands for is not a genetic inheritance. It must be learned, both by the next generation and by those who come to this country."
To nurture and develop our sense of ourselves as Americans the report makes a series of recommendations, because, as the study's author makes clear, many Americans are historically illiterate, points in one example to a question to survey of fifth graders.
JAMES REES, EXEC DIR MOUNT VERNON: Only seven of 100 could explain why the date of July 4, 1776 is significant and why.
TUCKER: The loss of our identity is not merely an academic issue, note the authors.
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They note that national identity, citizenship is the seed of governments and that we seem to be a nation torn between nationality and globalization. Forty-five percent of Americans between the age of 18 and 34, when asked, responded that international law should trump the U.S. Constitution whenever there is a conflict.
And Lou, if your viewers want to see more of this, they can go to BradleyProject.org and read the entire report.
DOBBS: And I would urge everyone who has time and interest, to do so. The BradleyProject.org. That percentage, again, of young Americans, 18 to 34, who believe that the United States, the Constitution, should be subservient to international laws or bodies of any kind?
TUCKER: Forty-five percent.
DOBBS: You know, there's a book out there, "The Dumbest Generation," and know, the reality is it's my generation has been utterly stupid, because we've not insisted on educational standards that require the teaching of civics in our public schools, we've not insisted on quality public education, which is the great equalizer in our society. This is a frightening, disturbing report because we are failing. we have demonstrably failed a generation of Americans, my generation and that's scary.
TUCKER: It is scary.
DOBBS: Bill Tucker, thank you very much. Appreciate it.
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