One of the things I have not seen explored much, is the degree to which this new crop of “Conservatives” has bought into the notion that what makes you American is not a commitment to certain ideas and institutions, but rather adherence to certain cultural practices, invariably white and either rural or hazy suburban reflections of the rural.

I think more and more centrists are buying into this, also. There’s a growing call for abandoning multiculturalism because groups aren’t integrating enough, which I feel is precisely a cultural practice definition of nationality. “London isn’t for the English anymore!” they say, for example.