You can’t argue about the British without hearing from the Irish, as Andrew Klavan’s friendly dispute with his father-in-law (see below) so neatly demonstrates. Another reader comments on this week’s Uncommon Knowledge:

I read Buchanan’s book, liked it, and passed it around to a friend who also liked it (we are both NR or NR-D subscribers). Both of us are largely of Irish or Italian ancestry. I believe that is relevant. I grew up in one of those eastern urban areas where the folk who ran the place were often Irish, and the “minority” was often Italian. None of them wanted to hear about British superiority. So, I’ve been aware of Buchanan’s thesis (in a primitive sense) since boyhood. Mind you, it wasn’t what was taught; but the thought was there. In similar vein, the local Poles were very gung-ho to “fight Communism” in Vietnam. Not that they knew where Vietnam was, or understood either Communism or Capitalism. What they understood was that Russia was occupying Poland, and whatever they were “fer,” the American Poles were “agin,” so to speak. So, go back to WWII, take away opinions by the Anglos, the Jews, the Poles, and the Germans, and what you have left are any number of people receptive to Buchanan’s thesis. Facts and logic are handy, but they can’t beat ethnic emotions, on either side of any issue.