As America reaches its 250th anniversary, nearly 2 in 3 Americans (63%) say that if the Founding Fathers could somehow see today’s U.S. government, they would conclude it is doing a poor job fulfilling their vision.

That finding comes from a new national survey my colleagues and I conducted through the Program for Public Consultation, affiliated with the University of Maryland, and in partnership with the university’s Civic Innovation Center.

The finding raises an obvious question: What do Americans believe has gone wrong?

Do Americans believe government cares about the 'public good'?

The answer is not that Americans have rejected the founders’ ideals. Rather, many say government has drifted away from them.

The Founding Fathers repeatedly argued that government should serve the common good. John Adams wrote that government is “instituted for the common good,” while James Madison described “the public good” as government’s highest objective.

Yet just 22% of Americans say government today is “run for the........

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