The airwaves hum with dire warnings: America is tearing itself apart. Both legacy and alternative media paint the picture of a nation split down the middle, red versus blue, right versus left, with tensions so high they could spark a civil war. The narrative is as familiar as it is dramatic: two irreconcilable worldviews locked in a death struggle; each side convinced the other’s victory means the end of the republic.

But step back, take a breath, and ask: Is America really as divided as they say? Or is this division a convenient illusion, distracting us from the reality about a political framework both sides unquestioningly accept?

Let’s start with the prevailing narrative. We’re told Americans are polarized like never before. The right, we’re informed, clings to guns, God, and a vision of a traditional America, while the left pushes for “equity,” climate action, and an ever-expanding welfare state. The rhetoric is apocalyptic: red states might secede to form their own nation, blue states could follow suit, and the specter of civil conflict looms. Commentators point to heated X posts, violent protests, and occasional political violence as evidence of a country on the brink. The 2020 election, the George Floyd protests, the January 6th Capitol riot, and the endless culture wars over everything from school curricula to pronouns are held up as proof that the divide is unbridgeable.

But is it? A closer look reveals the supposed chasm between left and right is more like a crack in the sidewalk. Both sides, for all their bluster, operate within the same political framework they rarely, if ever, question. Consider the numbers: in 2023, total government spending in the United States hit a staggering $11 trillion, with over $6 trillion of that transfer payments like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other entitlement programs.

Do you hear either side seriously challenging these programs? The right might grumble about welfare abuse, and the left might call for tweaking Medicare, but neither dare touch the third rail of dismantling these mammoth entitlements. Both accept the premise that government must play Santa Claus, “redistributing” wealth on an industrial scale.

Then there’s the worldwide military establishment. The U.S. maintains over 700 overseas bases, spends more on defense than the next ten countries combined, and polices the globe from the Middle East to the South China Sea. The left might criticize specific wars, and the right might cheer “America First,” but neither questions the underlying assumption that the U.S. must project power everywhere, all the time. The Pentagon’s budget sails through Congress year after year, with bipartisan support that would make a dictator blush. Meanwhile, American security from invasion or other foreign aggression could be achieved at a fraction of the cost. Where is the great divide here?

What about the New Deal regulatory state? From the FDA to the EPA to the SEC, a labyrinth of agencies micromanages every aspect of American life. The left loves regulations that promise safety or equality; the right prefers those that protect business interests or “family values.” But both sides worship at the altar of the administrative state, accepting that unelected bureaucrats should dictate how we live, work, and trade. During the brief, DOGE period at the beginning of the second Trump administration, there was talk of dismantling it. All that talk has ceased. It is doubtful anyone other than Elon Musk himself ever really believed in it.
 

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Tom Mullen is the author of It’s the Fed, Stupid and Where Do Conservatives and Liberals Come From? And What Ever Happened to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness? 

 Tom