The Hispanic/Italian analogy, again

Paul Nachman writes:

From a column by Phyllis Schlafly:

Policymakers should read the studies by Cuban exile scholar Jose Azel that probe into Hispanic attitudes and history. He concludes that the sociopolitical heritage from Spain and the post-colonial experience of Latin America have led Latinos to view government very differently from the principles of limited government enunciated and adopted by our Founding Fathers.

There isn’t any real evidence of Mexican assimilation to parallel the Irish and Italian assimilation in the early 20th century. The assimilation of the Irish and Italians absolutely depended on stopping the entry of more new foreigners, which the United States did in the 1920s.

LA replies:

One of the ways America’s third-rate hacks known as “intellectuals” mark themselves out is that they base huge, risky, nation-changing policies on mere analogies. “Germany and Japan became functioning democracies! So can Iraq and Afghanistan!” “Italians assimilated! So can Hispanics!” They don’t need to know anything about reality, they don’t need to know anything about the differences between the different things they are equating. They just need to have a plausible-sounding phrase.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at November 28, 2012 09:00 PM | Send