As Americans prepare to celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday, countless news stories and social media posts paint a picture of a hopelessly divided nation. That may be true among political elitists and activists, but it is not true of everyday Americans. Despite the noise and fury of the political battles, the vast majority of Americans continue to embrace our nation’s noble founding ideals of freedom, equality, and self-governance.
In a nation founded on the belief that governments derive their only legitimate authority from the consent of the governed, those voices need to be heard. That’s why the Napolitan Institute was established. Our mission is to lift up the voice of the people so loudly that it cannot be ignored in the halls of power.
The Napolitan Institute’s most ambitious effort to date has been our We The People project. To celebrate America’s 250th birthday, we hosted a national conversation with 2,409 everyday Americans about the meaning of freedom and equality in the 21st century. The conversation included at least five people representing each of the nation’s 435 congressional districts.
Every participant was empowered to express their own views, react to historic statements on these ideals, and respond to the views of others in the conversation. To make this conversation possible, we worked with Jigsaw (a tech incubator within Google) to develop a new and innovative platform using AI to synthesize the conversation as it unfolded. Ultimately, the conversation generated more than 1.6 million words—ten times the length of the Federalist Papers. Naturally, there were differences of opinion on a variety of topics, but the participants were able to find common ground on a set of core ideals.
The final stage of the process was a vote on statements that could create a Declaration of American Ideals for the 21st Century. To be included in this Declaration, a statement needed approval from the representatives of at least two-thirds of the nation’s Congressional Districts.
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Yesterday, the Napolitan Institute was honored to present its work at a meeting of the American Philosophical Society (APS). Founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin for the purpose of “promoting useful knowledge,” APS is located next to Independence Hall in Philadelphia and serves as a museum for visitors celebrating the events of 1776.
The society continues to reflect the Founders' spirit of inquiry and will publicly display the Declaration of American Ideals along with manuscripts and other collections internationally recognized for their enduring historic value.
Contrary to what we hear in the news and on social media, the Napolitan Institute research confirmed that the overwhelming majority of Americans continue to embrace our nation’s noble founding ideals. Yes, there were fringe minorities who rejected those ideals, but the keyword is fringe.
People in the 21st century don’t speak like Thomas Jefferson, but the same core beliefs can be seen throughout the conversation hosted by the Napolitan Institute and in the resulting Declaration of Ideals.
The results broadly confirm the main themes in my forthcoming book, "Out of Touch: The Elite One Percent and the Battle for America’s Soul." A small but loud and politically active segment of our society rejects America’s founding ideals and believes they are destined to rule over the rest of us. Throughout our nation’s history, there has always been a small sliver of the population holding such offensive views. They have always been defeated in the past, but now it’s our turn.
Our task today is to pass these blessings on to future generations by helping the nation move ever closer to living out the noble founding ideals of freedom, equality, and self-governance. If we do that, we will have done our part to ensure that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from this earth.
Read the Declaration: napolitaninstitute.org/
Scott Rasmussen is the president of RMG Research, Founder of the Napolitan Institute, and Editor-at-large at Ballotpedia.
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