Islamic threat no joke.

“[Muslims] have fervor and conviction, which in most Western countries are either weak or lacking. They are self-assured of the rightness of their cause, whereas we spend most of our time in self-denigration and self-abasement. They have loyalty and discipline, and perhaps most important of all, they have demography, the combination of natural increase and migration producing major population changes, which could lead within the foreseeable future to significant majorities. . .”

--Bernard Lewis (2007)

Islam is today’s biggest threat to the status quo. Certainly not Russia, China, Brazil or North Korea. But yes to Iran, Pakistan, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, add Shiites in Iraq, in the Gulf States, and even in Saudi Arabia, topped by al Qaeda and ISIS in all their iterations. Islamic extremism is beyond borders in Europe, Asia, and even North America. Islam’s true believers, not Republicans, are the real enemy of secular progressive culture.

Why do liberals ignore Islam’s threat to a decaying West?  

First, because the liberal meme is stuck in the 1960s, when the enemy was privileged white males, and revolution meant (unmarried) women, minorities, and youth -- the backbone of today’s liberal establishment. White males, Republicans, are the enemy progressives fought against then, and rally against now. Muslims, a minority here, seemingly belong inside this wonderful minority coalition. It’s inconvenient -- even un-American -- to take a group that shares the progressives’ anti-privileged white male stance and separate them out simply because some hold extreme religious views.  

Second, because the (privileged white male) enemy in the ‘60s purposefully wasted American lives and resources on an unnecessary war. The lesson of Vietnam. When privileged white males turned 9/11 into another excuse to wage war abroad, progressives responded by as much as possible downplaying the Islamic threat, and by attacking the motives of all who raised an alarm. “No more Vietnams!” progressives fervently proclaimed; avoiding the differences between Vietnamese Communism and Islamic extremism, and between a body-hungry draft and a professional, all-volunteer military.

Progressives are trapped in an outdated world view. Dangerous. No joke.