The World and Everything in It: June 30, 2026

Editor's note: The following text is a transcript of a podcast story. To listen to the story, click on the arrow beneath the headline above.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Well, the deadline is here. At the risk of saying, “I told you so,” it’s the final day of WORLD’s June Giving Drive.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Yeah, if you’ve been thinking, “I’ll do it before the end of the month,” consider this your reminder that June has just 30 days in it and this is day 30. 

So, if you’ve ever put a dollar figure on WORLD’s sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth, today is the day to do it. 

Please head over to WNG.org/donate and make your gift.

REICHARD: And thank you, to you and the many, many fellow listeners who’ve already been so generous in making this work possible.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

It’s the final day of the Supreme Court term, and today we look at cases ranging from presidential power to fire federal officials, to the states’ power to count mail-in ballots.

SPAKOVSKY: …this is going to increase the lack of confidence that the American people have in the integrity election process

NICK EICHER, HOST: Also today, details of a nationwide fraud crackdown.

Later, the role of faith in America's founding:

METAXAS: The way this country came into being 250 years ago is a miracle in the history of the world. 

And WORLD Commentator Janie B. Cheaney on the power of hope when confidence fades.

REICHARD: It’s Tuesday, June 30th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. 

I’m Mary Reichard.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

REICHARD: Time now for the news with Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Iran latest » The U.S. and Iran have stepped back from the brink — and the White House says direct talks are resuming, though Iran claims that’s not so.

After four days of trading strikes around the Strait of Hormuz, both sides paused Monday, and ships are moving again through the vital oil route.

Now the White House says both sides are sending teams to Qatar this week. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt:

LEAVITT: Iran has requested a meeting this week, so Special Envoy Witkoff and Jared Kushner will be flying to Doha for high-level meetings this week as we continue to discuss the memorandum of understanding. On the sidelines of those high-level talks will be the technical talks.

But Iran insists there are no talks with Washington "at any level." Tehran says its team is going to Doha to discuss the deal with mediators … but not to meet with U.S. officials.

Conflict flared up last week when an Iranian drone hit a tanker near the strait. The U.S. struck Iranian targets; Iran fired on American bases in Kuwait and Bahrain.

U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker says Iran got the message:

WHITAKER: The Iranians have had to be reminded that the United States is not going to be played with in these games, that maybe they're trying to attempt are not going to last long.

Meanwhile, Iran's leader is touting a win at home — the expected release of $6 billion in frozen assets in Qatar. The money is meant for humanitarian purchases, but U.S. officials say none has been released yet and want it spent on American farm products.

SAVE America Act » President Trump is still pressing Republicans to pass the SAVE America Act — the GOP bill requiring proof of citizenship to vote.

Trump has urged his party to use the so-called nuclear option — change the Senate rules to get rid of the filibuster. But Majority Leader John Thune says the votes aren’t there to do that.

Now Republicans have a new plan: push it through the Senate using a budget process called reconciliation. House Speaker Mike Johnson:

JOHNSON: And the reason that's so important is that it prevents the necessity of 60 votes in the Senate. And remember, this is very basic stuff. We're just gonna make sure you have to have proof of citizenship to register to vote, and then show an ID when you turn out at the ballot box.

That process would avoid a Democratic filibuster. But there's a catch. The Senate parliamentarian — the chamber’s nonpartisan rules-keeper — has already ruled the bill doesn't qualify for reconciliation, which is meant for spending and tax measures. Republicans are trying a workaround, steering federal grants to states that adopt the rules — but critics call it a longshot.

Ukraine latest » In Ukraine:

SOUND: [First responders]

Police and emergency responders tend to the wounded in the central region of Dnipro. At least four people were killed and nearly two-dozen injured in a Russian strike on Ukraine's fourth largest city. In Zaporizhzhia:

SOUND: [First responders in Zaporizhzhia]

Ukrainian officials say three people were killed and six wounded when a Russian drone struck a civilian minibus.

In total at least a dozen were killed in Russian attacks on Monday.

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russian consumers are starting to feel the cost of this war … in their own wallets.

ZELENSKYY: [Speaking Ukrainian]

He says Vladimir Putin can insist all is well in his country, but long lines at gas stations tell another story.

SOUND: [Lines at gas station]

In Moscow, some filling stations were shut Monday down while others saw lines of cars snaking down city streets after recent Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure.

Venezuela update » The U.S. is sending the Marines into Venezuela after last week’s devastating earthquakes. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports:

KRISTEN FLAVIN: About 130 Marines are arriving at the port of La Guaira to reopen it — so aid and heavy equipment can reach the hardest-hit areas by sea. They join more than 300 American search-and-rescue workers already digging through the rubble.

Six days after the twin quakes, the confirmed death toll is approaching 1,500, but tens of thousands remain missing.

And officials say the window to find more survivors has all but closed.

Hundreds of aftershocks keep rattling the region, sending terrified residents pouring back into the streets — including in the capital city of Caracas.

Between deaths, injuries, missing persons and property damage … the U.N. says the quakes may have impacted as many as 7 million people.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Europe heatwave » Europe's record heat wave is turning deadly — and France is hardest hit.

Health officials blame the heat for at least a thousand deaths there last week — a toll they expect to rise. Most victims were elderly, many found alone at home. Air conditioning there is not common.

Paris morgues are out of room; bodies are being trucked 50 miles away.

AUDIO: [Speaking French]

The owner of a Paris mortuary told reporters that he is getting a hundred calls per day from both colleagues and families who want to bring in bodies, but he has to tell them "we have no space."

Europe-wide, the World Health Organization counts more than 1,300 heat-related deaths since June 21st.

I'm Kent Covington.

Coming up: A look at a new slate of Supreme Court rulings.  And later, the role of faith in America’s founding.

This is The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 30th of June.

You’re listening to WORLD Radio and we’re so glad you’re here. Good morning, I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

First up on The World and Everything in It: another four decisions as the Supreme Court winds down a session full of big cases.

But first, an opinion on mail-in ballots, Watson v Republican National Committee. This 5-4 ruling lets states count ballots postmarked by Election Day, even if they arrive five days later. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the three liberals in affirming Mississippi’s law.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote the dissent. Here’s Senior legal fellow at Advancing American Freedom, Hans Von Spakovsky:

SPAKOVSKY: There is a point at which Justice Alito criticized the majority opinion, saying that this is going to increase the lack of confidence that the American people have in the integrity election process, and also le ad to a slurry—that's the word he used—a slurry of questions about election procedures across the country.

EICHER: Beyond legal theory, Von Spakovsky saw the logistical concerns about the mail system, based on a report of the Inspector General of the Postal Service.

SPAKOVSKY: That sounds pretty good until you realize that means that 4% of the ballots are getting in too late, and those were in their best jurisdictions, in other, in other places, they met the on-time deadlines only like 80 to 84% of the time, which means large numbers of ballots were arriving too late to be counted.

In the majority opinion, Justice Barrett explicitly noted that the Court wasn’t questioning the power of Congress to regulate federal races. She wrote that policy arguments on deadlines belong to legislatures, not courts.

This adds pressure on Congress now to pass the SAVE Act which would require mailed ballots in federal elections to be received by Election Day.

REICHARD: Next, the conservative majority gave the Trump administration some power to fire heads of regulatory agencies. But it drew a sharp line at the nation’s central bank. It’s considered an independent agency within the executive branch.

In Trump v Cook, a 5-4 decision blocks President Trump’s attempt to oust Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.

Oliver Dunford is senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation:

DUNFORD: And the merits question is whether the president properly removed her with cause, and what the US Supreme Court said today is that the president is unlikely to prevail in that argument, that he is probably going to lose… and so for now, Miss Cook gets to keep her job.

The Court did not decide the broader constitutional question of whether the president has authority to remove her at will. Instead, it held that Cook was entitled to legal due process before removal. So, the case returns to the lower courts for further proceedings.

EICHER: In Trump v Slaughter, a 6-3 ruling that President Trump may remove Federal Trade Commissioners. This involved Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter. The president didn’t give a reason for her firing.

Again, Dunford who filed an amicus brief in support of the president.

DUNFORD: So Chief Justice Roberts wrote the majority opinion and he said that “for cause” removal protection was unconstitutional because it violated the separation of powers and more specifically, that the executive power was vested solely in the president by the Constitution

REICHARD: This decision means protections for leaders in other independent executive agencies are now in doubt.

DUNFORD: This means that the president can remove all of those members, commissioners, all the leaders of those agencies for any reason or no reason under the premise that they are executive branch agencies. They exercise executive power, which is to say the president's power, and therefore, because he is responsible for their actions, he can remove them at will.

My legal-affairs colleague Jenny Rough now with the fourth case.

JENNY ROUGH: Finally, Chatrie versus United States. In 2019, a man robbed a bank. Typically, the police would look for evidence leading to a suspect. Here, the police had no suspect. So they got what’s known as a geofence warrant.

JOEL JOHNSON: A geofence warrant is sort of like a reverse way of doing an investigation.

Joel Johnson is a former Justice Department attorney and a professor at Pepperdine University.

JOHNSON: So the police draw what’s called a virtual perimeter, or a geofence, around … a crime scene. And they pick a time window. And then they ask a tech company, like Google, to tell them which phones or devices were inside that perimeter during that specific time.

Over a dozen innocent bystanders were swept up in the search. But police found their suspect.

He argued, though, that the government violated his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches, so the evidence of his location should be excluded from trial.

The Supreme Court first addressed whether a geofence warrant is tantamount to a search. Answer: yes, in a 6 to 3 ruling.

JOHNSON: What they held unequivocally is that there was a search here … so presumptively you have to get a warrant, a valid warrant.

That’s now clear for all cases going forward. But what’s unclear? Whether the search was reasonable. For a warrant to be valid, a search must be justified. The Supreme Court sent the case back to the lower court to decide.

Justice Samuel Alito filed a dissent, joined in part by Justices Clarence Thomas and Amy Coney Barrett.

Johnson says this case does two things. First:

JOHNSON: It does seem to confirm that cell phones are special under the Fourth Amendment. And I think we all intuitively agree with that. There’s a lot of privacy interest in our cell phones.

Second? The last time the court decided a Fourth Amendment cell phone case was in 2018. Since then, three new justices have joined the court. This was their first opinion on the topic, and it shows how they line up on the divided issue. But?

JOHNSON: None of them wrote very much. Barrett has a very short dissent … so she didn’t think this was a search. Kavanaugh joined the majority, … but didn’t write separately so we don’t know his specific views.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was also in the majority and didn’t write separately.

For WORLD, I’m Jenny Rough.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: taking down fraud.

Last week, leaders of a joint anti-fraud task force announced big wins in quantifying and prosecuting healthcare fraud in the U.S.

WORLD’s Harrison Watters has the story from Washington.

HARRISON WATTERS: Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said over the course of 14 days, the Department of Justice worked with state and territory attorneys general to indict more than 450 defendants.

BLANCHE: These individuals participated in health care fraud schemes involving over $6.5 billion in false claims submitted to Medicare, Medicaid, and other health care programs.

The DOJ also tracked down suspects abroad. FBI Director Kash Patel said the U.S. has extradited four alleged fraudsters since the beginning of June.

PATEL: One of those individuals, Herbert Leon Kimble, was apprehended in the Philippines. He's an American citizen. He had been bilking, allegedly, the system against Medicaid for billions of dollars since 2014 $1.2 billion in telemedicine, specifically alone.

Some schemes involved billing Medicare with stolen patient information. Other charges are tied to people allegedly performing procedures that were not medically necessary. In one case, a nurse in Nevada performed allograft surgeries on patients near death. Here’s Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald.

MCDONALD: She was performing these skin substitute procedures on vulnerable elderly Americans in hospices and in nursing homes, and then submitting those claims.

A new West Coast Strike Force will continue to bring charges against people operating fraudulent hospice centers. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the government has already closed down 800 hospices registered in Los Angeles.

KENNEDY: One of the ways that we've been able to detect that fraud is that in many of them the patients never die, they live forever, that's not supposed to happen in hospices, and this particular owner was actually going out and purchasing names from coroners of dead patients and then billing us for those.

In May, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid—or CMS—deferred $1.3 billion of reimbursements for Medicaid services in California. But the administration says the state needs to provide more documentation justifying expenses to combat widespread fraud.

Kennedy says much of the fraud stems from paying claims first and investigating later. That’s changing.

KENNEDY: We are deploying advanced artificial intelligence and data analytics to identify fraudulent billing patterns in real time, stop improper payments before they occur, and strengthen oversight across federal health programs. Our objective is straightforward: stop the fraud before it happens.

Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Reserve are now sharing data with HHS. The administration says increased oversight is already leading to savings. CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz reported $42 billion in savings last year.

OZ: Two thirds of those savings, $28 billion, came from simply locking the front door, never letting the money go out the door. That's provider revocations, automated claim denials, all the things that should have been done years ago, no longer will that money be taken out of your pocketbooks.

One reason for the delay is while Medicare is run directly by the federal government, Medicaid is a joint program with states. Some, like Ohio, are cooperating to step up fraud investigations. Others, like California, have not committed to taking additional actions. McDonald says overall, more states are cooperating.

MCDONALD: Last year I believe there were 13 states that participated with us in our take down, and this year we are in the high 40s of those who have come to the table to add their resources to come work with us…

So far, investigators have seized $182 million in assets, from cash to luxury cars and six-figure jewelry. Getting back more of the billions fraudulently paid out will take time, and court sentences.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Harrison Watters.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming next on The WORLD And Everything in it: Pushing back on pride!

We reported earlier in the month on the growing number of states, churches, and corporations distancing themselves from what’s called Pride Month and the causes it represents.

NICK EICHER, HOST: The month may be ending, but the battle isn’t. WORLD’s Myrna Brown introduces us to a pastor who keeps returning to the frontlines in Alabama.

MYRNA BROWN: In June 2023, Travis Johnson stood behind a podium and took his side in what he sees as a spiritual battle.

PASTOR TRAVIS JOHNSON: My heart is to see God do a really great work and I just decided that I’m not going to be quiet. I’m not going to back up.

He was at his local City Hall.

MOBILE CITY COUNCIL CLERK: This is the regular meeting of the Mobile City Council, Tuesday, June 6th….

The mayor had asked the 53-year-old pastor to open the meeting with a prayer.

JOHNSON: And it just happened on that same day there were a lot of people that were there to speak out against the drag queens that would be dancing in front of our historic cathedral downtown during Pride Month.

Pastor Johnson says he knew he had to make every word count.

JOHNSON: So Lord, on this point I pause and especially pray for the protection of the children of Mobile who are inundated and targeted by harmful agendas and social media from peers. At times in our schools, at times in our public libraries and at times in our city parks.

The 5 minute 23 second prayer struck a nerve.

JOHNSON: I pray these things In the powerful, good name of Jesus, Amen…[applause] Amen…Halleluah!

Nobody said anything to me about that prayer, but after a few days I started getting some attention.

Media outlets began publishing stories about people in the community demanding Johnson apologize.

JOHNSON: And I had people just starting to show up violently, very aggressive with language, bullying, harassing our family. Where we live was put online. Things about my wife and my children. And all for just a prayer.

The following Sunday, he responded from the pulpit of the church he’s pastored for the past decade.

JOHNSON: When the trumpet sounds at the hands of the kings of this age and of this world and they demand that you bow. Listen to me, Pathway. Don’t bow. Stand. [applause]

What happened next exceeded his expectations. First, pastors from nearly 50 other local churches issued a joint statement supporting him.

JOHNSON:: That we completely object to the taxpayer funding of various issues concerning LGBTQ activism.

The mayor took notice. Two months later…

JOHNSON: And he ended up firing the LGBTQ liaisons in the mayor’s office.

Dissolving those positions led to a five point reduction in the city of Mobile’s MEI score. That’s the Municipal Equality Index…a scorecard created by the Human Rights Campaign to publicize the ways cities interact with the LGBTQ agenda.

JOHNSON: It was a really unifying time for the church.

Johnson says he’s also become an unpopular member of the board of directors for Visit Mobile, the city’s nonprofit tourism bureau. Pastor Johnson says he’s the lone objector to a photo of a Pride event on the organization’s landing page.

JOHNSON: I was called by one of the board members a hate pastor, a hate preacher.

He says he knows he’s outnumbered but he’s never out of questions.

JOHNSON: Well, we have Visit Mobile saying that we love all love. And I asked the question in the board meeting, who said that? When did we vote on that?

MYRNA: What does that mean?

JOHNSON: First of all, it sounds nice, but what you’re saying is we approve of grown men, six foot four linebackers in dresses, going into a bathroom with five year old little girls in there. And I just want to say this. I hope everybody hears this. If a man goes into a bathroom after one of my daughters, there’s going to be two men in the bathroom in just a minute.

Johnson’s latest attempt to change the culture of his city involves requesting the removal of pride banners hanging on poles throughout downtown Mobile.

JOHNSON: My response is to place a banner that says child awareness month. Stop child gender indoctrination.

The city says Pastor Johnson’s request is being processed through the system. Pastor Johnson is hoping the banners will go up in September, child awareness month.

Pastor Johnson says doing battle against a culture that celebrates a non-Biblical view of sexuality takes courage.

JOHNSON: The Scripture says that we’re blessed when we suffer that we can be counted with Christ.

That’s why he considers standing up and speaking out to be a privilege. And he hopes others…in other places… will, too.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Myrna Brown in Mobile, Alabama

NICK EICHER, HOST: Good news: Gracie the giraffe is headed home!

The three-year-old wandered away from her Texas ranch a couple weeks ago.

By Friday, an aerial search team finally spotted her.

Though “spotted” has always been God’s standard paint job for giraffes, right?

In any event, Gracie was about four miles away, standing near a pond with plenty of short trees around—short by her standards. Her owner says she looked great ... standing there, swishing her tail, happy as can be.

Veterinarians planned to load her into a specially built giraffe trailer, and bring her home.

The owner says Gracie probably wandered down the wrong side of a gate while looking for something to eat. Lesson learned: He's putting up a fence.

As for Gracie ... she seems to have enjoyed her little Texas staycation.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, June 30th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: America 250.

Eric Metaxas is author of seven New York Times bestsellers. Those include large-scale biographies of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther, and William Wilberforce. His latest book, Revolution: the Birth of the Greatest Nation in the World, tells the story of America's founding on its 250th anniversary.

He spoke recently with WORLD’s Lindsay Mast. Here’s their conversation.

MAST: You call this a definitive work, yet there are historians who've been working in this space—the American space—longer than your than longer than you have. What makes your book definitive?

METAXAS: Yeah. Well, what makes it definitive is that I read those scholarly works. But what's interesting to me, I mean, my goal was never to say anything new. I just thought we need a popular retelling of the amazing, inspiring, stunning story of the birth of America. I mean, it's just one of the greatest stories in the history of the world, no exaggeration. And in the course of doing the research for book, I was myself astonished. I said, This is an amazing story. It's almost an unbelievable tale that 250 years ago, a group of people dared to think that we could create a nation where we govern ourselves, where we don't have a king. The wildness of that idea needs to be understood. The the way this country came into being 250 years ago is a miracle in the history of the world. God is at the center of it, and everyone involved at the time knew that God was at the center of it. And I think secular historians don't understand that, so they kind of avoid it. Some of them are hostile to it, so they try to write around it. That's inaccurate, and we need to correct that. I didn't write my book to correct anything, but I just said I just want to tell the story straight. And when you tell the story straight, it is absolutely, you know, it is astonishing. So I am thrilled that I got it done.

MAST: Yeah, I want to talk a little bit about some of those choices. You've said this book could easily have been twelve hundred pages. Since you serve a predominantly Christian audience, how how did you work through? How did you negotiate who you're writing for with what needs to be included to give an accurate account?

METAXAS: Well, I never really write for Christians. I assume that my fellow believers are gonna be the main people who read the book. But I just said I just want to write the truth. So I'm writing just a history book on a popular level that anybody who's a reader can read it. You don't have to be an historian, a history buff, an academic. This is just the story for everybody, and I put in everything that I think needs to be put in. There's way more that I could have put in and wished I had the time and the scope. But to me, just putting in the most important thing, the things that we sort of all need to know.

MAST: I will say it's very readable. I got to the end of each chapter and wanted to go on to the next one. I'm curious about your thought process and how you presented the differing theologies because you have the individual leaders, you have the revolutionary era population at large. How did you approach presenting both of those things?

METAXAS: Well, again, this is not a book about faith. It's not a book about the Christian roots of America. It's just the story of the revolution. But when you tell the story of the revolution, you can't get away from the faith because it was central everywhere you look. I mean it's it's unavoidable. Even those the least religious, Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin, for example, even they got the narrative that what we're trying to do here is we're trying to go back to Sinai. We're gonna look directly to God, we're gonna have no earthly king. that Americans need to know that, you know, and so I don't get into the theology deeply, but.

It's everywhere you look. The fact that they were doing something explicitly Christian, explicitly biblical, becomes unavoidable.

MAST: You've said that writing this book has given you hope for the future of the country. I find that fascinating and want to know why.

METAXAS: Well, I think when you look back, when you see who we are. It is inescapably inspiring because you realize this is a beautiful story and we're part of the story. We're meant to be part of the story. We need to know what is our DNA, what is our genetic code. I just have a sense that this is that kind of a moment in America where we're rediscovering this. We've strayed in many ways and we're coming back. and looking at how God's hand was on the revolution, which seems inescapable, that's the wild part. You realize God is involved. He does care about freedom in the world. He does care about America being a shining city on a hill so that others around the world would look at it and say, How do they do that? How do they have they're not perfect, but they have freedom and self-government. How do they do that? And at the heart of it is the Christian faith.

MAST: Eric Metaxas' latest book, Revolution: The Birth of the Greatest Nation in the World tells the story of America's founding, fittingly enough, on its two hundred and fiftieth anniversary.

Eric, thanks so much.

METAXAS: Thank you.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

Pride in the nation is near historic lows. WORLD Commentator Janie B. Cheaney says that’s not the first time the country has faced disappointment—or the question of what patriotism requires.

JANIE B. CHEANEY: The Bicentennial of 1976 came hard on the heels of Watergate, a presidential resignation, and a disgraceful exit from Vietnam. Paul Simon’s “American Tune,” released in 1973 and set to a tune from Bach’s St. Matthews Passion, wistfully looked back at American promises unfulfilled.

But as Independence Day drew near, patriotic enthusiasm surged. Red, white, and blue draped storefronts and streetlamps as cities stocked up for mammoth fireworks displays. Operation Sail organized sixteen international tall ships and dozens of other sailing vessels in a grand procession to New York harbor. On July 4th, Americans spilled out to the streets for noisy parades of school bands, patriotic floats, and Uncle Sams on stilts.

Then the dismal decade resumed, with more inflation, unemployment, and a hostage crisis. Nearly broke with a toddler and a baby, my husband and I drove out of the 1970s in an ailing Datsun hatchback.

Cycles rise and fall, and soon it was “Morning in America.” By the end of the ’80s we had arrived at respectable middle class—two cars and a mortgage. One peaceful evening, as the family walked around our neighborhood of comfortable homes and well-kept lawns, our daughter remarked, “It doesn’t get any better than this.”

But with our semiquincentennial dead ahead, our nation looks even more malaise-ridden than it did in 1976. The Harvard Youth Poll reports that only 41% of young adults are proud of their country, while 27% are embarrassed. A more general Gallup poll finds only 38% of Americans “extremely proud,” the lowest number since 2007. Some blame the current administration, but the polls widely reported today were taken two to three years ago. Disenchantment with the American experiment is not that new.

How about you? Are you proud to be an American?

Our founding fathers might have considered that an odd question. Though conscious of altering world history, they were less confident about America’s future. “A republic, if you can keep it” was Benjamin Franklin’s ambiguous reply to the lady who asked him the result of the Constitutional convention.

They were practical idealists. They aimed high but bowed to political expediency. They hoped for modest prosperity and peace under every man’s vine and fig tree, and probably never dreamed they had unleashed a stampede of ambition and innovation that trampled many underfoot. But lifted many more out of desperate poverty. On earth, it really doesn’t get better than that.

In his book Land of Hope, author and scholar Wilfred McClay offers a balanced history with necessary caveats. In a speech at Hillsdale College he explained how “hope” can be, as he describes it, a “double-edged quality”:

AUDIO: Because to be a land of hope is also to be a land of disappointment, a land of frustration, a land of disillusionment. We experience all these things. We wouldn’t experience them if we weren’t a land of hope, if we didn’t hold that outlook.

A nation that bases its founding on lofty ideals is bound to fall short at times. What else can we expect of flawed human beings? Cynical critics and angry protestors may be naïve about human nature—or else simply ungrateful for the blessings of liberty our Constitution aimed to secure.

The political scene is not encouraging, but by God’s grace we’re still here. “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord,” advises Jeremiah, but we can rightly love our homeland. She deserves it—even more, she needs it.

I’m Janie B. Cheaney.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Tomorrow: we’ll talk politics on Washington Wednesday with Hunter Baker. And, an actor breathes new life into the story of George Washington. That and more tomorrow.

I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio. WORLD’s mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Bible says, “Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the godly! Let Israel be glad in his Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King! Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre! For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.” —Psalm 149:1-4

Go now in grace and peace.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.