Is America still the land of hope?

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On Sunday’s episode of The Excerpt podcast: America has always been the land of promise. For a better life for yourself and your family. For a better world, for your neighbors and countrymen. For a better future for all of humanity. But does America still have hope? Amid bitter partisan divides throughout our country, USA TODAY recently visited six small communities to gauge the mood of the voters. What do they all have in common? They’re all named Hope. For this episode, Dana Taylor visited the largest and most diverse of them all: Hope, Arkansas.

Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

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Dana Taylor:

America has always been the land of promise for a better life for yourself and your family, for a better world for your neighbors and countrymen, for a better future for all of humanity. But does America still have hope?

Bill Clinton:

My fellow Americans, I end tonight where it all began for me. I still believe in a place called hope. God bless you and God bless America.

Dana Taylor:

Amid bitter partisan divides throughout our country, USA TODAY recently visited six small towns and cities to gauge the mood of the voters. What they all have in common? They're all named Hope. I recently visited the largest and most diverse of all of them, the city former president Bill Clinton put on the map, Hope, Arkansas. Hello and welcome to The Excerpt.

I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Sunday, September 15th, 2024. My goal was to gauge the mood of the voters. What were the issues they were worried about heading into the election? Were political divides a concern? How were they feeling about an election that many say will be the most consequential in decades? And finally, were they hopeful about the future? Hope is a small city of about 8,000.

Trains rumble through this southwestern town 58 times a day. Only two stops. Most roll slowly through carrying timber, chicken, coal, packages, and whatever else needs to make its way to the rest of the country. Historic Downtown Hope by all accounts is charming. My first stop was Tailgaters, a popular burger joint.

Sharon Caldwell:

This picture, it was taken in 1910. And Jack's Newsstand, which this is famous for in here.

Dana Taylor:

61-year-old Sharon Caldwell is one of the restaurant's co-owners. When you think about the election this fall, what's the most important issue for you?

Deborah Ross:

The most important issue for me will be the economy. Because me sitting here working with the young generation a lot, listening to them, they're really worried about the economy and where their future might go with it. So to me, economy is very important right now.

Small business, retail, it doesn't matter which business it is. Food costs, retail costs goes up, it's very difficult to maintain any business going on. So we need to see where grocery prices drop, retail prices drop so that the folks can get back out and enjoy life. The economy.

Dana Taylor:

That's Deborah Ross. She and her daughter, Deidre Johnson, are both longtime residents of Hope. 32-year-old Deidre has two children, one year old Auziel and an older sibling named Lalea, to look after right now. Her 55-year-old mother Deborah has 18 grandchildren, four of which were her foster children as well.

Deidre Johnson:

Oh, it's ridiculous. I mean, because with having children and with the prices of things today, it's hard. I mean, inflation is... Oh, I don't have anything like in my wallet right now, but I did last week I guess. But the cost of living is ridiculous and then they don't give you enough to make it like that.

So yeah, that is so true. My landlord just went up on my rent to $800, and I work at a restaurant where I'm barely making enough to pay that. Actually, I don't make enough to pay that at all and take care of two kids.

Dana Taylor:

Do you know what you're going to do?

Deidre Johnson:

No, not at the moment. I don't.

Dana Taylor:

Do you think that you'll stay in Hope?

Deidre Johnson:

No. No. I don't really have a plan just yet, but I am brainstorming and it probably won't be in Hope.

Dana Taylor:

Right. What do you hope most for your future and the future of your children and grandchildren?

Deidre Johnson:

That they get out of Arkansas. I mean, get out of hope and better their careers, better their education. She got degrees behind her.

Dr. Douglas:

Well, what keeps me thriving is the fact that babies are born every day and I take care of babies. There'll always be some babies and kids for me to take care of as long as I'm here, so that's no issue for me.

Dana Taylor:

Dr. Douglas, an 81-year-old pediatrician who goes by Dr. D around here, has been a pediatrician in Hope for 30 years. Deborah and Deidre are just two of the mothers in his care.

Dr. Douglas:

One of the big issues is that too many young girls getting pregnant and having babies and they're not mentally, emotionally ready for it. And then what happens is that I have a lot of patients who the mother has more or less relegated the care of the child to the grandmother. So I have a lot of grandparents in their 60s who are raising little kids, little babies because the mother's not doing her job.

She drops the kid off and goes away, does her own thing. The big issues families are grappling with here in Hope, I think, is financial. A lot of the parents are working two jobs. And unfortunately, a lot of the parents are single parents, so they're struggling trying to make ends meet. And the best thing that we do, I think, as a community is to encourage these kids to get an education.

Dana Taylor:

Of all the issues facing voters this election, recent high school graduate 18-year-old Kelsey Thompson also worries about the economy most. If you did have one issue, whether it's the economy, immigration, abortion rights, any issue at all, what would be the top issue you might focus on going into the election?

Kelsey Thompson:

It would probably be all of our prices going up and we're not getting paid enough to afford, unless they're making top dollar, but inflation probably.

Dana Taylor:

Kelsey is working at a local restaurant this summer to save up for school in the fall.

Kelsey Thompson:

Well, I just graduated high school not too long ago. I plan to go through the South West Medical Academy. It's in Prescott, but I plan to work as I do that online at the Plasma Donation Center in Texarkana. At the South West Medical Academy out of Prescott, you only go for about four months and it's a lot cheaper.

I would be able to pay out of pocket because I'll save up for it. So no, with that route I'm going, I would not be interested debt, and that's a big thing because I don't want to put my parents or family in debt at all. I want to be a EKG tech, a phlebotomist, and I want to be certified to be a surgical technician. I believe that I can make more money in a bigger town because Hope just doesn't have a lot of money in it. Period.

Dana Taylor:

It's what USA TODAY heard across the country when we went looking for hope in America. Hope, Arkansas was just one of six places called Hope we visited. In Hope, Maine, we found artisans and blueberry farmers. The main center of community life there was the general store.

Speaker 1:

I think any political view that supports making farms stronger, more resilient, more economically viable so that they can continue to grow our own food here is far and away the most important thing right now.

Dana Taylor:

And we went to a small dusty city in New Mexico where the last census registered 113 residents, a number even the town's mayor says is overstated.

Speaker 2:

I don't see no businesses opening up. There's no reason for them to come out here or anything. It's hard to get anybody to come out to a little place like this.

Dana Taylor:

In Michigan where you're never further than six miles from a source of fresh water, whether it's a lake or a stream, canal or pond, we visited two towns called Hope.

Speaker 3:

Everybody struggling to make it day by day. Price of gas went up. Food has doubled.

Speaker 4:

The pricing of everything. Go to the grocery store, three bags is 100 bucks for food.

Dana Taylor:

And we went to the end of a dirt road in Alaska, which annually holds a huge festival to celebrate the longest day of the year. That town is called Hope too.

Speaker 5:

Everybody is like a paycheck away from the street nowadays. And the whole reason you can't get any housing is it's too expensive. You can't even get a place to rent hardly.

Dana Taylor:

Back here in Hope, Arkansas, the summers are hot and the big attraction each year is an annual festival that brings in thousands of tourists and tens of thousands of dollars. But Downtown Hope is mostly like a ghost town. Like many small towns across America, the next generation is growing up and moving out to seek opportunities elsewhere. And those left behind are holding onto their hope for the future the only way they know how, through strong family and community ties.

Kelsey Thompson:

I want to be able to take care of my family like my dad when he's older so he's absolutely stress-free. That's what I plan to do.

Sharon Caldwell:

Oh, talking about my kids here at work, I can go on and on and on, of course, about my kids.

Dana Taylor:

Over at Tailgaters, co-owner Sharon thinks of her employees like they're family.

Sharon Caldwell:

I've been here 13 years and have had some amazing kids. Love, love watching them grow up. And yes, I do get to see futures for them. So it's just been a total blessing for me to see what career paths they take, whether it is to go on to school or whether it's to have a family and raise the family to a good community and get involved with the community.

Dana Taylor:

Community values run deep in Hope, Arkansas. Here's Dr. D, the pediatrician, again.

Dr. Douglas:

I'm involved in the community. I'm on the College Foundation Board. I'm on the Hope Water and Light Commission, and I'm on the Hempstead County Economic Board. I see a lot of hope being here for 30 years, much different than I was born here and left when I was 10 years old and came back 40 years later.

So there's been some nice changes and progression. Still got a ways to go, but I think that the community itself is very in tuned to what's going on and we try to work to improve the community and try to encourage the young kids to go to school, get an education. Sometimes it's hard, but we keep working at it.

Dana Taylor:

Deidre, the young mother we spoke to, was quick to cite her family and her church community as her main focus in life.

Deidre Johnson:

I focus more on being a good mother to my children no matter what my circumstances are in life. I want to make sure I'm doing the best by my kids.

Dana Taylor:

Would you say that they fill you with hope?

Deidre Johnson:

I look at it more like I'm their hope or vice versa. Without them I have no hope. And then without me, there's no hope because who will I... You know what I'm saying? My mama, she be busy. She got 18 other grandchildren, so it was like she do her hand here, she got her hand there, but she only has two hands and she got like one, two, three, four, five little grandchildren that are under the age of five. So imagine three little kids running up to her and want her to pick them up.

She pick them all up, but... She does. She pick them all up, but she make enough room for them. But I try to make her load a little lighter. You got seven under five? Well, I know five for sure, but she does the best she can and I'm really thankful for her. I'm glad to have her, and I always try to make sure her load is a little bit lighter. She's a great mom. She's a greater Mimi. I really appreciate her. I really do.

Dana Taylor:

Looking at the town, I noticed that there are a lot of churches.

Deidre Johnson:

I just had that out yesterday.

Bishop Johnny Jones:

We're here at the Provost Missionary Baptist Church Full Gospel Ministry in the city of Hope, Arkansas. We welcome you to worship with us today in spirit and in truth as we come today to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Dana Taylor:

76-year-old pastor Bishop Johnny Jones has been ministering to Hope's Baptist community for over 40 years.

Bishop Johnny Jones:

What gives me the most hope is to see our people begin to, number one, is to grow in the word of Jesus Christ. And when they grow in the knowledge of him, he will give them the direction, I believe, which way to vote, what to do, how to vote. And so that's one of my major pet peeve here is that people would seek him first.

Dana Taylor:

One thing Pastor Jones shared with us that we didn't hear from anyone else was a deep fear about the rise of racism in America if Donald Trump is elected.

Bishop Johnny Jones:

I read some of the parts of 2025, Project 25, and it goes back to some of the things where I grew up with. There was the Jim Crow era. Especially I remember women that I grew up with even older women, people would come around and tell them they couldn't have no more children.

They give them shots to not have children, those particular things. There was just so many things that I can't name them all, but it was the disrespect for people. Like I said, I grew up here. When I was a boy, I didn't have no problem about a person calling me boy. But when I became a man, I wanted respect and I want to be treated like a man.

Dana Taylor:

But Pastor Jones is quick to share that regardless of which party wins this November, he has faith in the idea of America.

Bishop Johnny Jones:

I've worked with Republicans and Democrats and independents. It makes no difference. We all have fellowship together, so we sometimes have differences, but we all get along.

Dana Taylor:

What is your greatest hope for the future of this country?

Bishop Johnny Jones:

That we can all work together. That's my greatest hope is that we can all work together.

Dana Taylor:

Across America, what the people we spoke to all had in common besides living in a place called Hope was a fundamental belief in the future of America.

Dr. Douglas:

The future of America, what I am most hopeful about is that our democracy will survive. That is what I'm most hopeful about.

Speaker 6:

I feel like no matter how hopeless or despondent you might feel, you should always remind yourself that as much as it could get worse, it can always get better. So I think generally I tend to lean towards the optimist camp because I would like that future for myself and for the rest of humanity.

Speaker 7:

I would really hope that we can all remember we're all Americans, and that the country can heal and come together and work together as we do in this community, our neighbors. Neighbor to neighbor, we work together even though we have different beliefs.

Speaker 8:

Personally, I hope that somehow this country gets squared away and back on track where we're all standing behind each other and moving forward as one country.

Speaker 9:

Yes, we do need to worry about what's going on in the large cities, but we also need to worry about what's happening in the small towns. Every election brings with it a hope that we will finally start to take steps to do that.

Speaker 10:

When I think of the future of America, the most hope I look at is to see more peace, more pulling together and working as a great America that we once knew.

Speaker 11:

I think I'm hopeful that this farm will go beyond its 9th generation, 10th generation, and hopefully beyond.

Speaker 12:

I'm hoping the kids will take over soon.

Dana Taylor:

Following a reporting on the ground, USA TODAY conducted an exclusive poll with voters about their hopes and fears for this election. Hear insights and conclusions in the conclusion to our two-part series on Hope with USA TODAY's Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page. You can find that episode next Wednesday at 4:00 P.M. Eastern right here on this feed.

Thanks to our senior producers Shannon Rae Green and Kaely Monahan for their production assistant. Our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to podcast@usatoday.com. Thanks for listening. I'm Dana Taylor. Taylor Wilson will be back tomorrow morning with another episode of The Excerpt.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Is America still the land of hope? | The Excerpt

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