There are two goals I think many Americans should have in mind: We should resist the pull of the multicultural Left:  The moral relativists, the purveyors of ‘class’ warfare and those who really have trouble with broader definitions of freedom of speech.  You might know who I mean:  The intolerant ‘tolerance’ crowd, many progressives over liberals, and members of the ‘hate-speech’ crowd.  This can also include the excessive and absolutist equality-seekers, who seek new victims in a common response to injustice with positive definitions of justice and social justice.

All of these groups, in following the logic inherent in their own ideas, tend to promote policies that erode our economic and political liberties, and those liberties are closely aligned.  We have broader definitions and legal traditions of free speech in America.  These will help us greatly moving forward, as some forces on the further Left won’t necessarily defend your right to say what you really think (and they are not alone, of course, as this is the rub regarding free speech).

This stikes me as a reasonable appeal, especially to liberals in America, and liberals who love liberty and freedom of speech.  The Marathon Bombings have chillingly forced us to rethink what’s important to us.

Notice this doesn’t solve questions on how open our immigration policy should be, but it will keep the debate open from those in all quarters who seek to close it.  It will also serve to keep our economy growing (the best assimilator of immigrants, in my opinion) and help us in maintaining an open, healthy society.  Terror and fear have a way of creeping into our minds and through our actions, and every American needs to be strong enough to send the right kinds of signals to our elected officials in order to maintain liberty while responding wisely to all that threatens our security.

In the meantime, we should also work to help American Muslims, and non-Islamist Muslims more broadly resist the House Of Islam folks, the Wahhabis, the Salafists, the Islamists and the radicals.  This will be a primary challenge in counter-terrorism, to our military and security agencies, to our Middle-East foreign policy more generally.  It also may help us in finding common ground with Europe, as they are having increasing problems with Muslim immigrants and an entrenched multicultural Leftist worldview and cultural hegemony.  We don’t want cultural ghettoes full of increasingly incendiary imams alongside a multicultural establishment full of journalists, critics, and policy-makers unable to address basic issues.

Any thoughts and comments are welcome.

Addition:  A more conservative friend says to just not allow Muslims in in the first place.  I’ll give that a hearing, but I will also point out that strategically, we’ve not figured out how best to prosecute our ongoing war with radical Islam, nor the rise of Islamism.  We’re looking at long wars and occupation, or we’re looking at quick strikes and low-level conflict, drones and intelligence, special operations and constantly employing new technology to our advantage.

Another Addition: If you want to see some responses to these ideas, go to Alexandria, where it’s cross-posted.

Interesting piece from an American Muslim here.

Plot foiled on a train from NYC to Toronto?

Yes, it’s jihad.  No, it won’t fit into the ideologies of diversity and multiculturalism.   Yes, people on the right want their suspicions and nativism confirmed.