A new poll showing millennials' value of patriotism, religion and family is less than in previous generations is a disturbing development, according to Ben Shapiro.
Without a common belief in the goodness of America, no matter one's ideology, it is hard to find what unites people beside relative superficialities like sporting events, Shapiro claimed Monday on "The Story."
"The common social institutions and philosophies around which the country was formed and has continued to progress are dissolving," he said.
"If you get rid of patriotism -- an innate belief that the country and the principles upon which it was founded are wonderful -- and you get rid of religion... and then you get rid of even a care of the future ... the question becomes what exactly are the ties that are supposed to bind us together other than watching the Super Bowl once a year together?"
MILLENNIALS CARE LESS ABOUT PATRIOTISM, RELIGION AND FAMILY THAN PREVIOUS GENERATIONS, STUDY SAYS
The conservative author also explained how millennials are subscribing to the latter of two accounts of America's founding.
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"One is that America was founded on eternally good, true and wonderful principles -- we have not always lived up to those principles -- but the story of America is an attempt to fulfill those great principles and is essentially a story of triumph over both the odds and our inner demons as well," he said.
"Story No. 2 is that America was rooted fundamentally in evil, slavery, sexism, racism, bigotry homophobia and that all of our institutions are rife with these things, so why would you be patriotic about institutions that are so thoroughly corrupt?"
In addition, Shapiro said it is troubling that younger people are appearing to find self-fulfillment as a "top goal," compared to fulfilling one's human duty to other people and to God.
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"Those two are in direct conflict," he said.
Regarding the poll itself -- conducted by Wall Street Journal/NBC News -- the survey began 21 years ago when Americans were asked which values were most important to them and the majority responded that “principles of hard work, patriotism, commitment to religion and the goal of having children” were critical.
Patriotism being “very important” fell 9 percent, religion dropped 12 percent and having children fell a whopping 16 percent. Older participants still feel that patriotism is a priority, but younger people aren’t as enthusiastic.
“The values that Americans say define the national character are changing, as younger generations rate patriotism, religion and having children as less important to them than did young people two decades ago,” Wall Street Journal reporter Chad Day wrote about the results.
Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this report.
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