Of all the things that have a negative impact on the United States, from terrorists to criminals to drugs to whatever, the top two things Americans claim have the most negative impact on America are the federal government (if you include Congress) and the media:

An extensive new Pew Research Center survey finds that 65 percent believe that the news media “has a negative effect on the way things are going in the country.” Some 56 percent said the entertainment industry has a negative effect. . . .

But as bad as it is for the media, there are two groups that have an even worse rating in the Pew survey out Monday.

• 67 percent said the federal government has a negative effect on the U.S.

• 75 percent said Congress has a negative effect.

On the media, conservatives were the harshest with 82 percent grading the media poorly.

I find it interesting that Americans put the federal government (Congress is after all included in the federal government) and the media at the top of their list of America-destroyers because both the federal government and the media are merely reflections of Americans themselves. We elected the officials in the federal government. And we decide what gets reported by the media by clicking on articles and watching (or not watching) news programs.

Both the federal government and the media are awful. I agree. The media emphasizes the worst and most trivial parts of American experience. They have contributed greatly to irrational fear, outrage, negativity, racial tension, xenophobia, and the sex- and self-centeredness that have defined this American age. But the media is motivated by nothing other than money. If we didn’t give them money to push their agendas, they wouldn’t. So we are to blame for the negativity of the media.

And we’re to blame for the federal government as well. We put the members of the federal government in power, and we refuse to do anything about it. So, in actuality this Pew survey says nothing other than this: The majority of Americans are the most negative part of America. I fully agree.