Insights & Analysis
Evidence-based commentary examining where America’s stated values collide with political behavior, public policy, culture, and everyday life.
Eight lenses for understanding moral strain
Browse the latest reporting below or use these themes to understand how each story fits the Index.
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Sick and Broke: How Medical Debt Is Bankrupting American Families
🏥 Public Health ← Back to All Articles More than 100 million American adults — roughly one in three — are carrying past-due medical…
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Food Insecurity in America: The Hunger Crisis Hiding in Plain Sight
🍽️ Public Health ← Back to All Articles In its most recent report, the USDA found that 13.7 percent of American households — roughly…
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Priced Out: The Slow Death of the American Homeownership Dream
🏠 Housing ← Back to All Articles In 2025, the typical first-time homebuyer in America turned 40 before closing on a house. In 1981,…
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America’s Trust in Government: The Collapse Nobody Wants to Admit
🏛 Civic Life ← Back to All Articles The April 2026 Moral Decay Index score of 62.5 out of 100 places America firmly in…
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America’s Gunfire Crisis: The Statistics That Should Stop the Debate
🔒 Crime & Safety ← Back to All Articles Reports of possible gunfire at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner sent officials scrambling and prompted…
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The Collapse of Media Trust in America
📱 Culture & Media ← Back to All Articles Only 14% of Americans have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in…
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What Is the Moral Decay Index? A Complete Guide to How We Track Social Health in America
The Moral Decay Index (MDI) is a data-driven framework for measuring the social and ethical health of the United States across eight key indicators.…
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The Student Loan Debt Crisis: A Generation Mortgaged Before It Begins
🏛 Civic Life ← Back to All Articles Americans collectively owe approximately $1.8 trillion in student loan debt, spread across more than 40 million…
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Americans Are Bowling Alone More Than Ever: The Collapse of Social Capital
In 1995, Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam published a famous essay titled “Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital.” He documented a striking paradox: Americans…
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The Homelessness Crisis: What Compassion Without Accountability Has Built
🏥 Public Health ← Back to All Articles On any given night, more than 650,000 Americans sleep without shelter — in encampments, on sidewalks,…
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Academic Dishonesty: How America Stopped Caring About Truth in Education
🏛 Civic Life ← Back to All Articles Between 75% and 98% of college students admit to having cheated at some point in their…
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Why the Decline in Church Attendance Is About More Than Religion
⛪ Faith & Society ← Back to All Articles For most of American history, the local church was not just a place of worship…