Americans who say they aren't proud of the United States may need a refresher on the nation's history or a visit to other countries, Mike Rowe told Fox News Digital on America's 250th anniversary.
Rowe, founder of the skilled-trades nonprofit mikeroweWORKS, narrator of "Deadliest Catch" and host of "Dirty Jobs," said celebrities should avoid dispensing political advice but argued history shows why socialism has repeatedly fallen out of favor.
Asked about a Gallup poll showing only 53% of Americans are very proud of the U.S., Rowe said that while he’s no "mind reader," his first thought was "if you're not proud of the country, then it's possible you might not be up to speed on where the country came from and how the country evolved or maybe how the rest of the countries and the world function."
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"Nobody wants a lecture or a sermon or a history lesson, but it's hard to appreciate who and what we are today unless you really remember who and what we were 251 years ago (in 1775) — back when the American dream was really just a dream."
Rowe said the constant stream of bad news makes it easy to draw short-term conclusions about the country, but America's founding offers a longer historical perspective.
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Rowe said the Founders effectively signed their own "death warrant" when they declared independence from Great Britain in pursuit of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
"That's what the American dream was. It [became reality] in 1783 when we signed the Treaty of Paris. … We're living in the American reality. And it's not perfect. It will always be a work in progress, but to look at the country and say, ‘Ah, I'm not that impressed’, I would suggest maybe visit some other countries and look back at our own history and reimagine your worldview."
Given recent wins by socialist politicians in New York, New Jersey, Colorado and elsewhere, Rowe said that "history is a wheel" that always spins.
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"Personally, I rack my brain to think of all the instances where socialism paid off. I got nothing, man."
Ideas that are out of favor suddenly return to the fore, and then fade again as people experience their own history in their own time, he said.
While the best political ideas won’t always win short-term, they ultimately wash out in the end, he said, pointing to history as a guide to why "we kicked [socialism] to the curb every time it reared its head."
When asked his suggestions to Republicans in combating socialism or Democrats in managing their new schism, Rowe quipped that he knows "one thing the country absolutely, positively doesn’t need."
"My opinion on any of that crap," he said. "I would be so far out of my lane to mouth off like that. We've got enough celebrities and enough public figures with enough opinions on telling both parties what to do.
"I've got a lane. The lane right now is mikeroweWORKS and BuildFreedom. And in that lane are hundreds of thousands of great jobs that are wide open. … And I mean that sincerely to anybody on the left, anybody on the right."
MikeroweWORKS and BuildFreedom are "so aggressively uninterested in your politics," Rowe said, focusing instead on work ethic and a willingness to learn skills that are in demand.
In regard to his focus on blue-collar work and warnings that the artificial intelligence revolution is endangering it, Rowe said of AI pioneers like Elon Musk that he won’t bet against the mogul or his work.
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"Three-quarters of the country is uneasy with AI ... but the people building this infrastructure are talking about a $10 trillion investment in our future."
Rowe said Americans have a habit of becoming suspicious of the very industries and technologies they eventually depend on. Still, he remained confident that the country's democratic process and spirit of innovation will prevail.
"We're going to argue like hell," he said. "And, in the end, hopefully somebody somewhere in this town will be talking about these same things 250 years from now."
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