One of Simon Schama’s many stupid remarks during the Munk Debate was that, to paraphrase, “People used to be hysterical about anarchists, too…”
I yelled, “Yeah, they killed the president!”
Of course, the reality that several of the most notorious Muslim terrorists of recent years have been brought up here or even born here is an extremely bad argument for more pedal-to-the-metal immigration policies. Instead, it suggests that America’s Magic Dirt doesn’t automatically assimilate Muslims. That Muslim immigrant terrorism is likely to go on for at least a generation is, rationally speaking, an argument for heightened prudence, not an argument for increased negligence. When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.
And yet, the United States has been plagued before by immigrant terrorism, and completely solved the problem.
How? Largely by selective deportations of radical immigrants and cutting back on future immigration.
Immigrant terrorists committed many of the most heinous crimes during the anarchism plague of the first third of the 20th century. Anarchists are largely forgotten today, but they were a spectacular annoyance a century ago.
