If I want to attack a popular conservative idea, I always prefer to start with the version formulated by Thomas Sowell, if there is one. Why? Because unlike most prominent conservative voices, he doesn't make stuff up, or make fallacious inferences. He will base his arguments on actual facts, and make valid inferences from those facts. Furthermore they are often facts that you can't find any where else, so they almost always change the shape of the debate in important ways. The only way you can answer him is to find other facts and arguments that undercut the significance of his.
Unlike Glenn Beck or Ben Shapiro or Rush Limbaugh he doesn't just play an intellectual scholar on YouTube or TV. He makes important scholarly contributions to his field and is rightly respected for them. This article on middleman minorities is a classic and provides a radical new and scholarly supported explanation for the rise of antisemitism, and shows how similar forms of bigotry arise all over the world for the same reasons. He traveled everywhere, from Africa to Indonesia to New York City to come up with hard data to support his thesis. Check it out, it's a damn good read, and a classic in its field.
