Steve Sailer has a Takimag column callled Frequently Asked Questions about the Jason Richwine Brouhaha. An excerpt:

Q. How can America survive without these sacred myths?
A. America survived fine for a couple of hundred years without the current schmaltz. When I was a boy in the 1960s, we had different schmaltz. The national myths then were all about cowboys and settlers, not immigrants.

The contents of the national myths serve to demonstrate current ethnic power. The descendants of Ellis Island-era immigrants are on top now, so they’ve rewritten history to make their ancestors sound central. This post-hoc score-settling is no doubt fun, but it’s obviously a stupid way to decide immigration policy.

Q. So what are the facts about Hispanics?
A. Hispanics average lower in IQ and in other kinds of test scores, such as SATs, GREs, school achievement tests, and military enlistment tests. Hispanics also average lower in real-world accomplishments that correlate with test scores. Moreover, they have been underperforming for as far back as records go, with little evidence of much change. That’s why they’ve received affirmative action for over four decades.

The point about how America used to be about cowboys and settlers is important. Steve links it to his review of the 2003 Martin Scorsese film Gangs Of New York. My own column on of it says that

"America was born in the streets" is the tagline of the new Martin Scorsese film "Gangs of New York." 

You thought America was born at Plymouth Rock?  Wrong!  Hollywood has decreed that America wasn't really born until the era of mass immigration.