Fact is, the modern Left debates immigration using the very same ethnocentric and racial ideas as King, but for entirely different reasons. While one side adopts it for exclusionary purposes, the other uses it as a cudgel of relativism. These days, there is precious little difference between ideas and identity on the Left. So we are asked to treat Islam as a racial or ethnic designation rather than a philosophical/religious/ideological one. This way we don’t debate ideas, history, or beliefs, but color. And if you fail to accept the debate on these terms, you will be subjected to vacuous accusations of “Islamophobia.”

Yet, the rise of the far-Right seems, in part, to be a reaction to the Left’s abdication of defending liberalism. I mean, does anyone believe the Dutch became inveterate racists overnight? Or is the competitiveness of Wilders’ party in Holland predicated on a long-term struggles that have generated upheaval across Europe? The flow of refugees into these nations has featured many people with ideologies and theologies that are in conflict with the values of their new homes. Not all, but enough.