Drift, Not Divorce: Measuring America’s Drift Against Its Own Anchors
A recent question circulating in conservative media asked whether Americans still have anything in common across our political divide.
Chris Salcedo recently published an article titled “Can We Stop Pretending That Americans Have Anything In Common With the Left?” (Feb. 23, 2026) — you can read it here — and while I may agree with much of his concern, my goal in this piece is not ideological agreement but structural assessment.
Chris asked a question most commentators are afraid to say out loud:
“Can we stop pretending Americans have anything in common with the Left?”
You can roll your eyes at the tone.
Or you can step back and ask the deeper question underneath it:
Do we still share a common American anchor?
Because if the anchor is gone, then the argument isn’t about tax rates or tariffs.
It’s about identity.
So, let’s compare where we are to where we were — not emotionally, but structurally.
Ideologically I may agree with much of his concern.
But my agreement is not analysis.
So instead of arguing this from an ideological or partisan angle, I want to approach it from a structural one — almost scientific in method.
Consequently, we need a reference point.
We should measure drift the way engineers measure stress:
Against the original design.
The Founders gave us anchors:
constitutional reverence,
rule of law,
national identity before party,
assimilation,
and a shared civic framework.
The question is not:
Who is louder?
The question is:
Are we measurably drifting from those anchors?
Before examining the anchors we need to consider Identity vs Party.
1. National Identity Before Party
There was a time — and it wasn’t mythical — when Americans were Americans first.
During WWII, Democrats and Republicans didn’t argue about whether defeating Nazi Germany was “problematic nationalism.”
