THE NEW MELTING POT by Reihan Salam Bombast and Chauvinism Must Not Prevent Compassionate Assimilation
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20151231upc_cover61404-postal.qxd 12/15/2015 9:05 PM Page 1 December 31, 2015 $4.99 Christmas!Merry CHARLES C. W. COOKE: RAMESH PONNURU: WHY SELF-DEFENSE MATTERS CRUZVS. RUBIO YES,YES, RETHINK IMMIGRATION The case for a new melting-pot nationalism REIHAN SALAM www.nationalreview.com base_milliken-mar 22.qxd 12/14/2015 12:37 PM Page 1 TOC_QXP-1127940144.qxp 12/16/2015 2:22 PM Page 1 Contents DECEMBER 31, 2015 | VOLUME LXVII, NO. 24 | www.nationalreview.com ON THE COVER Page 22 The New Melting Pot Jay Nordlinger on Clive A. Babkirk A new culture war is breaking p. 40 out over the future of American national identity in the face of rapid and accelerating demographic change. BOOKS, ARTS To win this new culture war, conserva- & MANNERS tives must do more than embrace a 35 THE REDUCTIONIST TRAP new approach to immigration. They Daniel Foster reviews The Evolution of Everything: must offer a new conception of How New Ideas Emerge, by Matt Ridley. American nationhood. Reihan Salam 37 A NEW CHRISTIAN COVER: ROMAN GENN Sarah Ruden reviews Augustine: Conversions to Confessions, by Robin Lane Fox. ARTICLES 38 MYSTERY MAN 15 CRUZ VS. RUBIO by Ramesh Ponnuru Robert Dean Lurie reviews They are having to disagree because they are so much alike. The Political World of Bob Dylan: Freedom and Justice, 16 DISCRIMINATING DISCRIMINATION by Kevin D. Williamson Power and Sin, by Jeff Taylor and Of Donald Trump and immigration. Chad Israelson. RECLAIMING TRADITIONAL EDUCATION by Samuel Goldman 18 40 AN AMERICAN ORIGINAL Why we should study old books and beautiful things. Jay Nordlinger on a Yanke e craftsman in Virginia. 20 THE TRUE SPRIT OF CHRISMAS by Aloïse Buckley Heath Composed by Pamela, John, Priscilla, and, sometimes, Buckley Heath; 42 FILM: TRUE GRIT typed by There Mother. Ross Douthat reviews Room. 43 DOWN BY WINTER FEATURES Richard Brookhiser gets ill. 22 THE NEW MELTING POT by Reihan Salam Bombast and chauvinism must not prevent compassionate assimilation. SECTIONS 26 SELF-DEFENSE AND THE SECOND AMENDMENT by Charles C. W. Cooke Why would anyone want a firearm? 2 Letters to the Editor CLIMATE PLAY-ACTING by Oren Cass 4 The Week 28 Athwart . James Lileks The conference in Paris accomplished nothing much. 33 34 The Long View . Rob Long 31 ON EARTH PEACE, GOOD WILL TOWARD MEN by Jonah Goldberg 36 Poetry . Sally Cook Even metaphorically. 44 Happy Warrior . Heather Wilhelm NATIONAL REVIEW (ISSN: 0028-0038) is published bi-weekly, except for the first issue in January, by N ATIONAL REVIEW, Inc., at 215 Lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016. Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y., and additional mailing offices. © National Review, Inc., 2015. Address all editorial mail, manuscripts, letters to the editor, etc., to Editorial Dept., N ATIONAL REVIEW, 215 Lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016. Address all subscription mail orders, changes of address, undeliverable copies, etc., to NATIONALREVIEW, Circulation Dept., P. O. Box 433015, Palm Coast, Fla. 32143-3015; phone, 386-246-0118, Monday–Friday, 8:00A.M . to 10:30 P.M. Eastern time. Adjustment requests should be accompanied by a current mailing label or facsimile. Direct classified advertising inquiries to: Classifieds Dept., NATIONALREVIEW, 215 Lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016 or call 212-679- 7330. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to N ATIONAL REVIEW, Circulation Dept., P. O. Box 433015, Palm Coast, Fla. 32143-3015. Printed in the U.S.A. RATES: $59.00 a year (24 issues). Add $21.50 for Canada and other foreign subscriptions, per year. (All payments in U.S. currency.) The editors cannot be responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork unless return postage or, better, a stamped, self-addressed envelope is enclosed. Opinions expressed in signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of the editors. letters_QXP-1127940387.qxp 12/16/2015 2:23 PM Page 2 Letters DECEMBER 31 ISSUE; PRINTED DECEMBER 17 EDITOR Richard Lowry Can Peace in the Middle East Be So Simple? Senior Editors Richard Brookhiser / Jonah Goldberg / Jay Nordlinger Ramesh Ponnuru / David Pryce-Jones In “The Islamic War” (December 7), Victor Davis Hanson wonders why Islamists despise Managing Editor Jason Lee Steorts us “all the more” as the Middle East has become wealthier, the Islamic world has gained Literary Editor Michael Potemra Vice President, Editorial Operations Christopher McEvoy more knowledge of “relative global wealth and poverty,” and the U.S. has “proved post- Washington Editor Eliana Johnson Executive Editor Reihan Salam modern in its attitude about the causes and origins of war.” Roving Correspondent Kevin D. Williamson He fails to mention a more significant factor: the presence of U.S. and other Western National Correspondent Joh n J. Miller Senior Political Correspondent Jim Geraghty troops in Muslim lands. As Chas Freeman, our ambassador to Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Art Director Luba Kolomytseva Gulf War, has recounted, the proposal to station American troops on Saudi soil in response Deputy Managing Editors Nicholas Frankovich / Fred Schwarz to Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait presented a problem, given that many Saudis “interpret their Production Editor Katie Hosmer Assistant to the Editor Rachel Ogden religious tradition as banning the presence of non-Muslims, especially the armed forces of non- Research Associate Alessandra Trouwborst believers, on the Kingdom’s soil.” Shortly after the invasion, Freeman attended a meeting at Contributing Editors which King Fahd, overruling most of the Saudi royal family, agreed to allow U.S. troops to be Shannen Coffin / Ross Douthat / Roman Genn stationed in his country. This courageous decision was premised on the understanding that all Arthur L. Herman / Florence King / Lawrence Kudlow Mark R. Levin / Yuval Levin / Rob Long American forces would be removed once the immediate threat from Saddam was neutralized. Mario L oyola / Jim Manzi / Andrew C. McCarthy Kate O’Beirne / Andrew Stuttaford / Robert VerBruggen When we failed to honor this commitment, Fahd faced serious domestic problems. Several prominent Muslim clerics who objected to Fahd’s policies were sent into exile, NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE Managing Editors Katherine Connell / Edward John Craig further inflaming the religious community. Osama bin Laden began to call for the over- Deputy Managing Editor Nat Brown throw of the monarchy and stepped up his jihadist fight against the U.S. National-Affairs Columnist John Fund Staff Writers Charles C. W. Cooke / David French Virtually all of the terrorist attacks Hanson mentions occurred after the 1991 Gulf War Senior Political Reporter Alexis Levinson and during the subsequent presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia. The one exception— Political Reporters Brendan Bordelon / Joel Gehrke Reporter Katherine Timpf the 1983 suicide bombing in Lebanon—also involved U.S. troops on Middle Eastern soil. Associat e Editors Molly Powell / Nick Tell Digital Director Ericka Anderson None of this is to condone the jihadists. Rather, it is to suggest that the facts as they exist Assistant Editor Mark Antonio Wright should inform our methods of combating terrorism with a minimum of violence and death. If Editorial Associate Christine Sisto Technical Services Russell Jenkins you discover that your dog snaps at you when you touch him in a par ticular place, rather than Web Editorial Assistant Grant DeArmitt slapping him you might reasonably decide to pet him elsewhere. Or not to pet him at all. Web Developer Wendy Weihs Web Producer Scott McKim David E. Steuber Mineral Point, Wis. EDITORS- AT- L A RG E Linda Bridges / Kathryn Jean Lopez / John O’Sullivan VICTOR DAVIS HANSON RESPONDS: I wish I could believe Mr. Steuber’s reductionist analysis, NATIONAL REVIEW INSTITUTE BUCKLEYFELLOWSINPOLITICALJOURNALISM because such fantasies would surely simplify things, but for a variety of reasons I cannot: Elaina Plott / Ian Tuttle 1) Middle Eastern terrorism directed at the U.S. antedates the Gulf War well beyond “the Contributors one exception.” We were not in Saudi Arabia or at war in the Middle East when Iran took Hadley Arkes / James Bowman / Eliot A. Cohen Dinesh D’Souza / Chester E. Finn Jr. / Neal B. Freeman our hostages, Qaddafi planned to kill our diplomats in Rome, our embassy was bombed in James Gardner / David Gelernter / George Gilder Jeffrey Hart / Kevin A. Hassett / Charles R. Kesler Kuwait, or a West Berlin discotheque that American servicemen frequented was bombed. David Klinghoffer / Anthony Lejeune / D. Keith Mano 2) Middle Eastern attitudes toward the U.S. are incoherent more than systematically Michael Novak / Alan Reynolds / Tracy Lee Simmons Terry Teachout / Vin Weber predictable. Is the current Saudi complaint that the U.S. is too engaged in the Middle East Chief Financial Officer James X. Kilbridge or not engaged enough against Iran? Accounting Manag er Galina Veygman Accountant Lyudmila Bolotinskaya 3) Bin Laden adduced a number of reasons for his attacks. From The Al Qaeda Reader Business Services and Raymond Ibrahim’s translations of the bin Laden/Zawahiri written corpus, we learn Alex Batey / Alan Chiu Circulation Manager Jason Ng that they were furious over U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, Iraq, Executive Publisher Scott F. Budd Kosovo, Lebanon, Somalia—and Andalusia. They were aggrieved ove r Israel, Jews, oil, Advertising Director Jim Fowler the U.S. failure to adopt the Kyoto accord, and even the atomic bombings of World War II. Advertising Manager Kevin Longstreet Assistant to the Publisher Brooke Rogers 4) We are now at the end of 2015, about 13 years since the last U.S. soldier left Saudi Director of Revenue Erik Netcher Arabia. Have Salafist clerics and extremist members of the royal family ceased their Vice President, Communications Amy K. Mitchell stealthy support of anti-Western terrorism? PUBLISHERCHAIRMAN 5) King Fahd’s realpolitik agreement to allow U.S. assets to use pre-designated Saudi Jack Fowler John Hillen bases was not a “courageous decision,” but the bad/worse decision of a ruler without better FOUNDER William F.