As some of you might have read, Linda Chavez has been writing a series of hatchet-jobs against illegal immigrant amnesty opponents.  The main thrust of her 'argument' seems to be that we are all racists. 

For the record, I don't think the term 'race' is too useful.  Sure, there are people who look different than us.  But there genes are not substantially different in areas where it matters, such as intelligence.  Many peoples coming from third world countries like Vietnam are able to master 1st world technology in only a generation.  I think Jared Diamond's thesis answers part of the question as to why Western civilization (read: Europeans) came to be dominant, but leaves out the crucial element of culture.  What if the Spanish, rather than shedding the 'inshallah' (allah willing) fatalism of their Arab subjugators of 7 centuries, had just kept Islam as their dominant religion?  The answer: Spain would be a third-world backwater even today, just as are Morocco and Tunisia.  Robert Spencer's survey of Islam provides an excellent example of how cultural presuppositions and values can make or break a civilization.  Francis Schaeffer provides even more evidence that Western civilization became dominant because the idea that man was made in the imago dei was very much a part of Western thinking until the last century.   In summary, race doesn't matter, but in light of globalization leveling the geographical playing field with respect to food production and technological advantage, culture is the main indicator of whether a civilization will rise or fall.  Mexican culture in the United States has to a large degree become an unholy chimaera of the worst of Mexican culture and the worst of American culture, and trending more in that direction than away. 

Linda Chavez makes certain claims in her latest article that indicate to me that she has spent very little time outside of her ivory tower in Washington.  The National Review authors she critiques respond here. I'd like everyone to read the back an forth between her and the authors in the NRO symposium, especially those of you with firsthand experience if this phenomenom.  Just to show my hand, I believe that Linda Chavez has glazed over many of the problems the NRO contributors bring to light in their symposium.  I think we have very real cause for concern, rather than the rosy picture Chavez paints.