New York Post editor Sohrab Ahmari, a recently converted Catholic, electrified some conservative quarters when he suggested in First Things that it was time for Christian conservatives not just to dispense with politeness and decency when dealing with liberal enemies that have turned “elite institutes” into “libertine and pagan” strongholds, but also the bogus notion of state neutrality in matters of religion. Such notions, he suggested, were preventing them from using the government to “defeat [the liberal] enemy” and promote their faith in a bid to “[enjoy] the spoils in the form of a public-square reordered.” In plain English, Ahmari is spurring conservatives to dispense with this foolishness about separating church and state — so that they can use the state to impose their religion.

That conservatives are preaching a full-scale abandonment of America’s bedrock commitments to capitalism, democracy, religious pluralism, and individual liberty shows that even as they accuse immigrants of not assimilating in America they themselves are dissimilating from America.

The vast majority of immigrants believe in America’s fundamental promise. If conservatives don’t, then they are the real problem. Immigrants may or may not be increasing littering in America, but conservatives are trashing it.