Despite the long-term project to do away with European borders, Hungarian culture still exists. Danish culture is a thing, too. The French aren’t some artificial construct drawn up by social engineers. And though it is extraordinarily diverse and rich, European culture exists. Christian culture exists. Sometimes it fails in the most violent and brutal ways. But, in the aggregate, human flourishing does better, by any measure, under this tradition than any other. When you see Austrian or Swiss migration moving eastward to Jordan, let me know.

There is now an unregulated flow of refugees into Europe, many of whom lug around ideologies and theologies in conflict with the values of their prospective homes. And many of today’s liberals find the idea of demanding, or even nudging, newcomers to integrate to be disagreeable, disrespectful, or intolerant. How does that end?

Unlike the United States, structurally and geographically built to assimilate diverse populations, Europe hasn’t experienced this success. Turkish guest workers, for instance, began streaming into West Germany half a century ago and even today their grandchildren are struggling. A large percentage of Muslims in Germany subsist off generous social benefits, and a large percent of their children lack the basic education required to break out of that trap. Other nations, including France, have completely different Muslim populations, but comparable problems. What makes anyone think Syrian asylum seekers will do any better?