Today's guest is Mike Rowe, the podcaster, former host of Dirty Jobs, and star of Something To Stand For, an unabashedly patriotic film in which he tells unknown stories about legendary figures in American history. Something To Stand For will be in theaters from June 27th through the 4th of July, and will be available online afterward. Reason's Nick Gillespie and Rowe talk about the decline of patriotism and trust in experts over the past 50 years, the necessity of knowing history and your neighbors, and how developing gratitude may lead to a social renaissance even in the midst of political polarization.

0:00—Introduction
1:20—Rowe's new movie: Something To Stand For
6:29—Remembering the veterans of World War II and Korea
10:30—Faith Popcorn and futurism
12:50—Boys Scouts and crumbling social institutions
19:13—Are we sheep or goats?
21:15—Generational disconnections for patriotism
27:28—Ad: Students For Liberty
28:29—Paul Harvey and "God made a farmer"
31:00—"The Way I Heard It" and expanding stories into movies
32:34—How do we acknowledge failings and still celebrate progress?
35:55—Grounding the American experience in gratitude
38:38—"Embrace the suck" so you can make new discoveries
41:50—Finding optimism for the future despite our sordid past
44:42—Mike Rowe is "skeptimistic"
45:58—The end has always been "near"
48:50—Gratitude and curiosity require humility

Previous appearances:

Mike Rowe on Well-Paying Dirty Jobs, Nonprofit Whiskey, and Male Decline, July 19, 2023

Mike Rowe Wears Trump's Robe, Fights a Drone, and Solves the Labor Shortage, October 21, 2016

Dirty Jobs' Mike Rowe on the High Cost of College, December 13, 2013

Today's Sponsor:

• Students for Liberty