Released: July 03, 2006

Poll: Founding fathers’ values still strong

Source: By Emily Bazar, USA Today

Viktor Schreckengost turned 100 last week. Born in Sebring, Ohio, the artist has witnessed the birth of the color photo and the death of the telegram. He has seen 18 U.S presidents and a half-dozen wars that they led.

Amid the highs and the lows of a century of change, he says, one thing has remained constant: what it means to be an American.

Now, 230 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, USA Today has asked Schreckengost and others to look in a mirror. In the past year, the nation has experienced devastating hurricanes, scandals in Washington, the high price of gas and the high cost of war. With that in mind, what does it mean to be an American in 2006?

“It’s still the same as it was when I was a kid,” Schreckengost says. To him, freedom, honesty and loyalty continue to represent the values of the nation he loves. “We have the opportunity to follow our own beliefs,” he says.

His views seem to reflect those of many Americans. A USA Today/Gallup Poll taken June 23-25 shows that most continue to embrace the core values espoused by the Founding Fathers. More than 70% say most Americans still respect freedom of speech and religion. But when asked to compare today’s values with those of five years ago, 68% say Americans are more materialistic now, and almost half — 48% — say Americans are less tolerant of the views of others.

“It’s like everybody has to have everything,” says Jeannie Griffith, 48, of Springdale, Ark. Griffith says the quest for new and better possessions steals time from families. When she was a child, her father taught her how to pinch pennies so hard that they “scream,” she says.

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