By J. Peder Zane
America’s unrivaled prosperity and freedom make it hard for us to understand why everyone doesn’t want to live and think as we do.
Even leftists in the United States who routinely assail our history and institutions share this mindset. Their true ideology might be said to be cognitive dissonance. While they spout Marxist dogma, their very viability hinges on keeping the blessings and fruits of our current system. The difference is their belief that they should be the ones to command and distribute them. The problem, of course, is that they may likely kill the golden egg-laying goose in the process.
With rare exceptions, such as millionaire provocateur Hasan Piker, none of them believe competing cultural models, such as those in China, Iran, or the Arab states, offer a superior way of being. As much as they claim all cultures are equal, their actions and expectations – has any group demanded, and felt entitled to more stuff? – reveal them to be almost caricatures of the Ugly American. And yet, as true progressives, they believe in the superiority of their views and expect, over time, everyone else will see the light.
This is wishful thinking – both nationally and globally. Billions of people around the world have been reared in very different societies, shaped by very different histories. Most of them don’t want our culture, because they like their own. They don’t want to live like us, even when they seek to live among us.
This is becoming a major issue in our era of relatively easy mass migration. Many of the people who have come to our shores are bringing not only their hopes for a better life but also their very different beliefs, values, and assumptions.
Unlike the waves of immigrants before them, these newcomers feel little pressure to assimilate into the prevailing culture. Why would they? They are bombarded by voices describing America as a cruel, corrupt land defined by colonialism, greed, and “white supremacy.” Given the left’s unrelenting assault on our history and traditions, which has led to a widespread rejection of patriotism by Democrats, it is far easier to cling to a culture you know than do the hard work of adapting to a new one excoriated by its own elites.
The unwillingness of native-born progressives to espouse the values that shape their lives and expectations – this has worked for me, maybe you should try it – has been an ongoing problem. In his 2012 book, “Coming Apart,” Charles Murray detailed how successful liberals embraced bourgeois values – they were more likely to complete college and attend church, less likely to engage in substance abuse or have children out of wedlock – but were unwilling to make the case that others should follow suit if they wanted happy, fulfilling lives. More recently, this reticence has been replaced by an acceptance of attacks on their values.
Well-heeled progressives may gain psychic income from this performative virtue signaling, but it is creating the same obstacles for immigrants that it has long done for the poor.
This is especially true of American Muslims, who are different in important ways from other immigrants. Unlike the Germans, Italians, Mexicans, and Poles, they were not reared with the values of Judeo-Christian Western culture. In addition, many come from countries where the U.S. is portrayed as a hostile, murderous entity.
Given the breakdown in America’s assimilation machine, their rising numbers here make it crucial that we understand who they are and what they think. Unfortunately, much of the legacy media has trumpeted the hateful rhetoric voiced by some on the right – a real and growing problem – to dismiss almost all inquiry as “Islamophobia.”
This is why I am especially proud of the recent seven-part series published by the site I lead, RealClearInvestigations, on Islam’s rise in America. While noting that Islamic teachings do not accept the separation between church and state, our series details how they are working through the democratic process to win control of communities, turning them into Islamic enclaves that increasingly make space for faith-based Shariah law.
We also report on the deep connection between many leaders of those communities and people tied to terrorism, their financial support from Middle East countries with very different cultures and aims, and the anti-Jewish and anti-Christian rhetoric that is a staple of sermons at many mosques.
As journalists, our job is not to judge these findings but to report and try to understand them. It may be glib to say that one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter, but it is also a truth. Everybody has a reason for believing what they do.
Nevertheless, while respect for religious differences is a foundation for our country, this becomes complicated when the leaders and loudest voices of some groups are true believers who attack members of other faiths as ungodly threats. Perhaps our media brethren can devote some of the energy they expend warning about the dangers of so-called “Christian nationalism” to exploring the beliefs shared by members of our nation’s fastest-growing religion.
As Paul Sperry reported for RCI, European leaders confronting many of the same issues have begun taking a far more aggressive stance against the more hostile versions of this worldview, which is usefully called Islamism to distinguish it from milder forms of Islam:
Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Portugal, and Switzerland are among EU members that have passed laws aimed at curbing radical Islam. The French Senate also passed a law in May aimed at countering “Islamist Infiltration” of the country following a 2025 government report, “Muslim Brotherhood and Political Islam in France,” and a poll that year finding a majority of Muslims in France aged 15 to 24 prefer Sharia law over French law.
It may be alarmist to say that Muslims are intent on imposing their views on America, but that does not diminish the importance of trying to understand – without rancor or vitriol – a growing population many of whose members think and act outside our prevailing culture.
Currently, neither the right nor the left seems willing to engage in this work of figuring out how to help newcomers stay Muslim and also become Americans. Where the right increasingly demonizes Muslims, the left largely ignores (or excuses) the radicalism taking root in America. Neither side is trying to build social trust by making the case for the way of life that brought them here.
America’s great melting pot history shows that integration that respects differences but fosters the cohesion of shared values does not happen on its own. The most welcoming thing we can do is to make the case – and trumpet our exceptionalism. At bottom, the left and right still believe in America. Let’s not be shy in saying so.
J. Peder Zane is an editor for RealClearInvestigations and a columnist for RealClearPolitics – where this column was published on September 18, 2026. Follow him on X @jpederzane.
