The feature topic of this issue of The Social Contract had its germination in a suggestion by John Vinson that we take another look at the impact of Islam on the United States. Back in the Fall of 2010 (Volume XXI, Number 1) we published a special report on “The Menace of Islam,” wherein we argued that Islam was undermining our national security, social cohesion, and cultural strength. Events in the United States, Europe, and across the rest of the world confirm that we are experiencing, in the words of the late Harvard University Professor of Strategic Studies, Samuel P. Huntington, a “Clash of Civilizations.”

Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Thomas Sowell [“Will Orlando Change Anything?” Townhall.com, June 14, 2016] challenges our putative leaders: Have the United States and Europe become “a safer place after importing vast numbers of people from the Middle East with cultures hostile to the fundamental values of Western civilization?”

Notwithstanding terrorist attacks here and abroad committed by Muslims, the U.S. and Europe continue to encourage Muslim immigration. Both the Bush and Obama administrations asserted that “Islam is a religion of peace.” Politicos from both parties and talking heads of the Mainstream Media have rejected suggestions that we enact even a temporary “time-out” on further immigration from Muslim sources.

Yet, in light of events in Orlando, San Bernardino, Fort Hood, and elsewhere, how confident can our officials be that adding to our Muslim population will not result in the emergence of “homegrown” terrorism on the level now experienced in Europe? Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS), the part of the Department of Homeland Security that is supposed to vet the backgrounds of immigrants seeking citizenship, spends less than five minutes on average per application. They really have little or no idea who these people are and how many may morally support Hamas and ISIS.

In his famous speech of April 20, 1968, before the General Meeting of the West Midlands Area Conservative Political Centre, Member of Parliament Enoch Powell (1912-1998) stated, “The supreme function of statesmanship is to provide against preventable evils.”

Immigration policies, as all government policies, should serve the national interest.