America’s Pluralism Is Broken

Allan J. Feifer | October 11, 2026

Pluralism rests on the idea that cultural, linguistic, and ideological differences can exist within a shared civic framework. More recently, however, we've gone further, treating diversity itself as a virtue—as though differences are automatically superior to our status quo and we can endlessly remake ourselves without jeopardizing our core identity. But what if we can't?

Pluralism and multiculturalism are not the same thing.

Pluralism assumes differences exist within a shared civic framework. Multiculturalism demands treating those differences as something government must accommodate, even encourage, while rejecting the belief that a pluralistic nation requires a shared language, values, laws, expectations, and national identity.

America's civic glue is thinning because we have either confused those two ideas or have been systematically pushed to accept that reasoning.

America calls itself a "nation of immigrants," but historically that phrase meant something specific. For more than a century, we prioritized European immigration. Immigrants came from societies with broadly compatible political traditions and cultural expectations, entered institutions they could understand, learned English, assimilated, and became Americans.

The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act deliberately replaced the national-origins system with one emphasizing family reunification and diversity, with ramifications we live with today. Europeans accounted for roughly three-quarters of America's foreign-born population in 1960; by 2022, less than 10 percent. Immigration shifted overwhelmingly toward Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the developing world.

This was no accident. It resulted from deliberate changes in American law. Here's the question we have largely stopped asking:

Why did our immigration policy change so dramatically without a serious discussion of what benefited America?

Sovereign countries should use immigration to benefit their own country. America needs workers with particular skills, people who can support themselves and contribute to the tax base. We need manageable........

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