My grandparents landed on Ellis Island in 1902 with their 1-year-old son, my father, in their arms. Twenty-seven years later, in 1929, I was born. They had fled what was taking place in Tsarist Russia, with the Cossacks and other government forces running wild, attacking, raping, and killing Jews.
It wasn’t until many years later that I really appreciated the great gift they gave me by coming to a country where everyone has the freedom to pursue one’s own dreams, a country whose vision is that all should be judged as individuals – judged, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, “by the content of their character.”
I was in grade school and high school during the Second World War. In our first class every morning we pledged allegiance to the flag of our country. During many assemblies, we sang the National Anthem. On Saturday afternoons we watched the war unfold on the big screen in the local movie house. On Sunday evenings we crowded around the radio to hear Walter Winchell give us the latest news on the war in his fast, staccato manner. Patriotism was in the air, and we loved America.
Fast forward to 1956 when I was 27 years old. I started my own business with the phone in my dad’s chicken store and $2,000 borrowed from my father-in-law and a wholesaler who would sell me goods to fill the orders I got. With that and some catalogs supplied by the wholesaler, where I could rubber stamp my company name, Quill, on the cover, I started out calling on businesses across Chicago, selling office supplies.
A year and a half later my younger brother joined me, and 20 years after that our older brother joined. Then in 1998, 42 years after starting, we sold our company, Quill Corporation, to Staples. We had become one of the largest office products dealers in the country, with over 800,000 customers nationwide.
I have lived the American Dream. Some say that dream is dead today, but I beg to differ. One of the great promises of this country is that an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 new businesses were started the year I started Quill. In 2024, there were 5.5 million applications for new businesses. The population in 1956 was about 175 million and about 340 million in 2024. So, there were 10 times as many new businesses started in 2024 as compared to 1956, in a nation where the population has only doubled.
What these numbers show is that vast numbers of our citizens believe that they can fulfill their entrepreneurial aspirations, which gives lie to the claim that the American Dream is obsolete.
Some are claiming that America is inherently a racist nation, that all white men are racists. Well, this old white man must also beg to differ with this canard. Our national motto is “E Pluribus Unum,” out of many, one. The Declaration of Independence puts forth the American creed “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” – which is exactly opposite of the claim that we are an inherently racist nation.
We haven't yet fully realized that vision, but a true reading of our history shows we have come a very long way toward achieving it. The fulfillment of that vision is what we must continue to work on. That should be the mission of the younger generations.
And then, of course, there are ongoing efforts by some to break us down not only by race but also by sex, sexual orientation, and in other ways that are antithetical to American ideals. Again, this old white man must dissent. That goes against all that we stand for and all that we have been striving to achieve over these past 250 years.
Decline in Patriotism
When I was growing up and building my business, patriotism was in the air, and we loved America. Now, a 2023 Gallup poll shows that only 38% of young Americans ages 18 to 34 say they are extremely proud to be an American, while 67% of those 55 and older say they are.
Traditional patriotism has declined among younger generations, being replaced with a lot of misinformation about America and about the progress we are making toward realizing our founding vision. Some are even advocating that we change our form of government.
How did this happen? I realize that there are always some who are working to change us from being a nation based on meritocracy – in our “pursuit of happiness” – to a nation based on equal outcomes for all, an impossible dream that has failed every time it has been tried. How did we get to a place where so many other young people seem to be agreeing with them?
The culprit, I believe, is our educational system. Some of the Vietnam War protesters in the 1960s and 70s became professors, and over the years as they gained seniority, they reshaped the faculty of our institutions of higher education in their own image. Like all those throughout history who wanted to take this country in a different direction, they knew they had to erase the history, the memory, of the country and supplant it with something different.
And that is what has been happening over these past 60-plus years. The teaching of America's founding principles – the teaching of America's long history of working toward achieving that vision of the Declaration of Independence – has been downgraded, or even eliminated from, the curricula in most of our colleges and universities. And, more recently, realizing that they must start indoctrinating children at a younger age, the same has been happening at the K-12 level.
Rebirth of Civic Education
Realizing that fewer of our young people were proud to be Americans, 20 years ago I started the Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and History. We started at the university level and later expanded into the K-12 arena. We have had good success building a network of over 1,200 professors on more than 300 campuses.
Belatedly made aware of what is happening inside our schools, Americans have become angry. They are demanding that our schools teach about America, its vision, its founding principles designed to achieve that vision, and its 250-year history of progress toward achieving that vision. So, the wind is at our back in this effort.
Some states are passing laws requiring that their public universities must have a separate department to teach America’s founding principles and its history, as well as Western Civilization in general. Those departments will create their own masters and doctorate programs to further revitalize the teaching of these principles and of our history. The heads of these departments are hiring professors apart from the influence of other professors on campus who are opposed to such teaching. These departments will also reach out to K-12 teachers in their states so these teachers can better teach their students. At the Jack Miller Center, we are playing a major part in this effort.
If those who want to tear us apart by race, color, sex, and sexual orientation succeed, it will destroy us as a nation. And, yes, this old white man begs to differ on all they are doing. This is not what my grandparents came to this country for.
Many in this country fear the threat of China, North Korea, or even nuclear-equipped Russia. But I fear the threat that comes from within even more.
Now, at the age of 96, 123 years after my grandparents came to this country with my one-year-old father in their arms, as I look back on my life, I am even more grateful to them for having the courage to make the trip. And I want to preserve the gift they gave me for my children, grandchildren, and seven – so far – great-grandchildren.
Jack Miller is founder and chairman emeritus of the Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles & History.
