The American Spectator

Today on the main site:

• Evangelicals and Immigration, by Mark Tooley

• It will all come to tears, by G. Tracy Mehan, III

• Plus more…

Comment of the day:

Reader Red Phillips on Patrick O’Hannigan’s The Patriotic Lessons of Disneyland:

Well, I think Mr. O’Hannigan reasserts the proposition nation thesis again here but more softly. The idea or the creed or the proposition or whatever may be a part of the overall culture that we share. A love of freedom is more characteristic of America than it is of some countries where order and authority are more valued, for example. (This is often true sociologically of colonial countries vs. the motherland from which they sprang, and open frontier countries vs. densely populated ancient cultures.) Europe thinks we are crazy for resisting socialized medicine and gun control for example. But the idea cannot be the defining characteristic. It is a part of the overall cultural milieu.

For example, people often celebrate the fact that America has religious freedom but treat it as incidental that America was almost entirely Christian. Which is more important, the particularly Christian nature or the religious freedom? Christians should have no qualms about answering the former. And if they answer the latter I think they need to seriously examine their priorities.

And on a related note, America did not have “organic diversity” except the Indians whose land we were expropriating and the African slaves we brought here against their will. The vast majority of Americans at the Founding were of British Isle stock. (See John Jay Federalist #2). Our present diversity is the result of immigration since the War for Independence, immigration which is now, contrary to the related nation of immigrants dogma, at unprecedented rates.

What to watch for:

• Watch out for a meteor shower.

• NATO will meet in Bratislava, Slovakia.

• Fannie Mae will sell 3 billion dollars worth of bills.

• Medvedev will meet with India’s foreign minister.

Game of the day:

• Dodgers vs. Phillies at 8:07 pm (ET)

Tuesday’s Best:

Russia loans Serbia 1 billion dollars: