Pictured from left: Shamil Idriss, Jon Gould, Mona Charen, Erika D. Smith and Mike Madrid. Photos by Karen Tapia
Experts warn of America’s identity crisis as trust, unity hit historic lows
When Jon Gould, dean of UC Irvine’s School of Social Ecology, asked his class of 50 students — mostly children and grandchildren of immigrants — how many believed in the promise of America, fewer than five hands went up.
“This is our future, and less than 10 percent believe that the promise of America is still alive,” Gould told a packed audience Oct. 21 at the Beckman Center of the National Academies of Sciences & Engineering at UC Irvine. “Something needs to be done and it needs to be done now.”
Gould’s classroom experience set the tone for “Tackling the Nation’s Identity Crisis,” a timely panel discussion hosted by UC Irvine's School of Social Ecology and the Aspen Institute that brought together experts to examine what American identity means in an era of unprecedented division.
The most sobering assessment came from Shamil Idriss, CEO of Search for Common Ground, the world's largest peacebuilding organization. Drawing on extensive international research, Idriss revealed that America has experienced the fastest decline in democratic stability of any country measured in recent years.
“The United States fell two places on global stability indices — a more rapid decline than any country since these measurements began,” Idriss said. “We now rank alongside Middle Eastern countries in terms of democratic health.”
According to Idriss, every region of the world except Europe is experiencing record levels of polarization, with the U.S. leading in the speed of deterioration. His organization has identified five “vital signs” that predict whether societies hold together during crises: cross-group trust, institutional legitimacy, levels of violence, citizens' sense of agency, and how resources are allocated.
On all five measures, Idriss said, democratic nations including the U.S. now are scoring lower than some authoritarian regimes — a finding he called “deeply disturbing.”
Syndicated columnist Mona Charen, a longtime conservative commentator, pointed to the breakdown of shared information as a root cause of America’s fracturing.
“There is no shared reality anymore,” Charen said. “You can't have a functioning democracy when citizens can’t agree on basic facts. The information ecosystem has been weaponized, and we’re all paying the price.”
Charen, who worked in the Reagan administration, reflected on how the end of the Cold War removed a unifying external threat that had helped Americans see themselves as part of a common project.
“We defined ourselves in opposition to the Soviet Union,” she said. “When that ended, we lost a sense of common purpose and started looking for enemies within.”
Minority Identity in Flux
Bloomberg Opinion columnist Erika D. Smith explored how the meaning of minority identity is shifting in America, particularly after the 2024 election saw increased support for Donald Trump among Latino and Black voters.
“There’s always been tension between celebrating who we are and being limited by how others see us,” Smith said. “But, what's happening now — with mass deportations and attacks on minority communities — is reinforcing the idea that there is still very much an ‘us versus them’ in this country.”
Smith pushed back against suggestions that America has adequately confronted its history of racism and inequality.
“We're only at the tip of the iceberg in understanding this country's history,” she said. “A lot of people were shocked by what they learned in 2020. That tells you how much we still don't know.”
The Paradox of Prosperity and Pessimism
The panel, moderated by Mike Madrid, School of Social Ecology senior fellow and co-founder of the Lincoln Project, grappled with a striking paradox: Americans today are materially wealthier and healthier than any generation in history, yet trust, optimism and social cohesion have collapsed.
“The wealthiest, most prosperous generation — those who lived through the longest period of peace — are the most negative about America's future,” Madrid observed. “What does that tell us about what really makes people feel secure and hopeful?”
Idriss pointed to research linking social isolation and screen time to declining well-being.
“Human beings need face-to-face connection, to feel seen and respected in their communities,” he said. “Those are exactly the things you don't get from a screen.”
He cited a recent British Medical Journal study of 177 countries that found the most effective COVID-19 responses came not from wealthy nations with strong healthcare systems, but from countries with high levels of social trust and institutional legitimacy.
Universities Under Fire and Scrutiny
The role of higher education emerged as a contentious topic, with panelists noting that universities face historic lows in public trust even as educational attainment has become a major political dividing line.
Charen criticized universities for fostering “cancel culture” and ideological homogeneity, while acknowledging that current government attacks on academic freedom are “unconscionable and un-American.”
“Universities should be using this moment to genuinely examine themselves,” Charen said. “They could be microcosms of our diverse society, places where students learn to engage across differences. Too often, they've failed at that mission.”
Madrid noted that Orange County, where UC Irvine is located, is one of only three truly purple counties among the nation’s top 25 most populous — making it an ideal laboratory for bridging political divides.
Despite the grim assessment, Idriss offered concrete examples of successful bridge-building from his organization’s work across the nation.
After the first assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, a multi-partisan coalition his organization had been cultivating sprang into action within hours. Christian pastors received talking points for addressing their congregations in ways that would calm rather than inflame tensions and community leaders organized a ceremony to “reconsecrate” the fairground where the shooting occurred.
“The key is building relationships before things go bad,” Idriss said. “And, you don’t invite people to ‘bridge-building’ conversations — that turns people off. You organize around concrete issues people care about: schools, safety, local concerns. The bridge-building happens naturally.”
A Call to Action
The event, which inaugurated a new series aimed at fostering dialogue across differences, concluded with an implicit challenge to the audience: in a nation approaching its 250th birthday, can Americans rediscover what holds them together?
“We’re not aiming for easy consensus on big issues,” Gould said. “We want to foster exposure to different perspectives and model respectful conversation across divides. Even in stressful times, an open mind and a willingness to listen can move us forward.”