The ideology that the overwhelming majority of Americans share is the notion that the world is a dangerous, chaotic place, and that without a powerful government protecting them from the big, bad wolf, mayhem would ensue. Generally speaking, the left sees the wolf as wealthy businessmen with regulators and tax collectors as the protectors, while the right sees foreigners (especially those who don't look like us) as a constant threat and rallies around the military, tariffs and ICE. Mixed in is a bit of doublethink: the left is not quite as pro-war and the right is not quite as anti-market.
Of course, those running the protection racket are totally drinking the Kool-Aid which means they are able to justify lying to the sheep. To the masters, this is for their own own good: In most cases, the less they know the better. Cue Colonel Jessup in A Few Good Men: "You want the truth? You can't handle the truth!"
~ Kevin Duffy
