Would America's Founding Fathers be pleased?

(CBS News) 

PHILADELPHIA - This week, CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley has been talking to a panel of smart people -- from outside Washington -- about how to get America back on track.

The panel gathered at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where in 1787, the country was in a crisis. Washington, Madison, Hamilton, Franklin - 55 delegates in all - gathered to write the Constitution and and move the country forward.

On the floor above where the Founders had parties and meetings, CBS News gathered some of the most thoughtful Americans we could find.

Included on the panel: Mary Frances Berry, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and former Chairperson of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; Mick Cornett, Mayor of Oklahoma City and President of the Republican Mayors Association; Michelle Rhee, CEO of StudentsFirst and former Chancellor of the Washington, D.C. public school system; John Bogle, founder of the world's largest mutual fund company, the Vanguard Group; Arturo Vargas, the Executive Director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials; Matthew Segal, co-founder of OurTime.org, an organization focused on empowering youth; Eileen McDonnell, President and CEO of Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company; and Dr. Pedro Jose "Joe" Greer, Jr., Assistant Dean of Medicine at Florida International University.

The panel told CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley what gives them hope. Here's how that part of the conversation went.

Pelley: Tell me one thing that is working well, one thing that gives you hope.

Mick Cornett: I still believe in American ingenuity. I think the 18th century was about the best farm. I think the 19th century saw a move toward a more manufacturing economy. I think the 20th century was about creating the most efficient factory. But the 21st century is going to be about ideas. And I think America's going to produce the most ideas and we're going to reign supreme.

PICTURES: Meet the panel

Matthew Segal: I say the service ethic of the country, but in particular my generation, gives me hope in the sense that applications to AmeriCorps and City Year and all these public service programs have doubled and tripled.

Eileen McDonnell: I like the fact that people are taking personal responsibility, that they're really taking a hard look at the actions that they're taking in their households every day. Folks don't want to throw the towel, that there is still that glimmer of optimism and hope. And so I see that as something that's going well.

Cornett: Well, optimism is critical. It's especially critical to consumer confidence, which is going to ultimately drive the economy.

Arturo Vargas: We still have immigrants who come to this country who are fundamentally optimistic, who believe in the American Dream, who believe this is the land of opportunity, who really invigorate our democracy. That gives me hope.

Pelley: We have spoken to people all over this country who have told us that their children are not going to be as well-off as they were.

McDonnell: I think if we keep talking about it, it will happen. (CHUCKLE) If we change the frame of reference and say it is possible to make that happen, we're smart enough, there's folks in this room represented from all walks of life, spectrum of experience in life. I think if we put our heads together and think about it, we can move forward.

Pelley: Mary Francis, I've been dying to ask you this question (LAUGH) as long as we've been planning this. Maybe nobody in the country can give us the perspective that you can give us on this.The men who met in this room, what would they think of us today, the Founders?

Mary Frances Berry: I think they would say that their system holds and that over time it will come together. And no one has thought of a better one. Think about that. (LAUGH)

Watch clips of the first two panel reports below

[Dubl10]

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[Blamminski]

I think the founding flounders would be setting up gas chambers to rid the land of yellow and brown people. They were funny that way. They learned it from the original Nazi, Columbus.

[LoadedAndDangerous]

Pleased with the Communist (Democratic) Party? I think not. I don't think they would be happy with the vacant White House either.

[enzman39653]

Our founding fathers must be turning over in their graves. Your panel selected certainly did not represent the cross of America. Where was the laborer, farmer, homeless, etc. Ask them if we are making our founding fathers proud. Sometimes I wonder if journalist ever get out into the real America or World. If you did your reports would certainly be different. You folks representing have no idea what is going on in the REAL!!! world today. Once you may have know, but you can't get past the title(s) you wear after your names, that certainly does not impress the average joe.

[nwisconsin]

The lack of knowledge of the Founders is part of the problem. How many people know that one of Washington's first major crisis during his presidency involved an armed group of people who refused to pay taxes? That challenge was met by the Founders sending armed contingents to arrest and put down the tax revolt. How many people know that many of those people were on Washington's s*** list because of land disputes that Washington had lost in court? The Founders were people and, *gasp*, politicians. They were not demi-gods. They were not perfect nor instruments sent from God. What set their imperfect experiment apart was their insistence on the rule of law. That, and only that, is what has preserved us.

[KNYSCH]

Consumer spending is the only way out.Before the crash the lower middle class and working poor had a wallet full of credit cards and could buy on installment plans.Those days are over. In a census report on personal income 100 million americans with income made less than 25k a year and most were far below that.Now add in the unemployed and lack of credit and it is obvious the spending is not coming. We need a minimum living wage in the US and in every country.A realistic wage realative to the cost of living. Big corporations are making billion dollar profits while paying single digit wages.I think everyone should pay their share of taxes including corporations,not for profits, churches,and foundations.

[LoadedAndDangerous]

Scott Pelley, you're kidding right? Our founding fathers are rolling over in their graves at the thought there's a racist socialist in the White House destroying America and what it stands for. Scott Pelley, I realize that everything you say as to be approved by the White House but give me a break.

[involved_indi]

why does CBS think a panel of academia, professional politicians and a couple of service industry reps represent Americans of "all walks of life"????

[bjrachel]

Beyond me. If CBS really wants to know what is going on, why ask people so far removed from the reality of life. They need to ask individuals who deal with the reality of loosing their homes, putting food on the table and asking themselves how they will pay their bills. While the questions asked were good, the panel answering was not. CBS....how about asking the real people of this nation.

[hesrperus99]

The philosophy of America's founders was uniquely sound. It is the reason this nation has endured for 235 years. To say that a philosophy becomes of date, primo facto, is to disregard the eternal constants of the human condition. The idea's of Plato are as relevent today as they were in 240 BC. America's founders believed in the separation of church and state to protect religious freedom, not to repress it. Their adherance was to the idea's of the enlightenment, which like the renaissance harkened back to the ancient Greeks, the seminal light of Western Civilization. Every era that has brought progress to The West was, in essence, a revival of Greek thought. The problem is that the current structure of American society bares little resemblance to the vision of Jefferson and the other adherants to the enlightenment. Far from turning our backs on those thinkers of the past, we must use them as a map, as a guiding light to the future.

[hankster34]

@sandiegopete: I do. This administration has helped to rekindle the spirit of what this country once stood for. That's exactly what is wrong with the liberal-progressive thought. People who have shunned the wisdom of the Founding Fathers and gladly move towards a socialistic society instead of individualism. Government has entirely way too much control and regulation of the citizens thanks to Woodrow Wilson, FDR & LBJ.

The manufacturing sector? Sounds good but we've been on a decline for some time. For example, Gibson Guitars moved their manufacturing from Kalamazoo, MI to Japan in 1970! Four decades ago.

[uisignorant]

They have a plant in TN