Ben Carson continues to say some very controversial things about Islam.  On Sunday he said that when searching for radical Muslims, he would at least be willing to consider focusing the search on Muslims, on the theory perhaps that radical Muslims are more likely to be a subset of Muslims than they are to be a subset of Christians or Hindus.  This is obviously very controversial.

Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson said on Sunday he'd listen to evidence that religion could provide probable cause to search the emails and calls of Syrian refugees in the United States.

"I personally don’t feel that way, but I would certainly be willing to listen to somebody who had evidence to the contrary," Carson said on ABC's "This Week." "I think that’s one of the problems, we get to our little corners, and we don’t want to listen to anybody."

Of course, this is not controversial at all.  This is common sense.  But for years we have bent over backwards to avoid the obvious conclusion that the problem lies in a subset of the Muslim community.  That's why you see completely random searches at airports of nuns and children, rather than a focus on the ladies all covered up except for their eye slits.  That's why rather than an NSA exclusively focused on emails relating to suspected terrorists, the government collects information about all our emails and phone calls.

This is not being not just politically correct, but also inefficient, making us less secure.  We have a limited amount of resources and we need to focus on them.  What Carson is saying is only common sense.  You will find radical Muslims only among a subset of Muslims, so why not put your focus there?

But doing so would be tantamount to admitting that there is a problem with a subgroup within Islam, a problem that American politicians are afraid to talk about.  They think they will be labeled "Islamophobes" if they speak frankly and say that a large subset of Muslims are radicalized and out to kill anyone (including fellow Muslims) who don't agree with them.  Instead of addressing this problem honestly, they prefer to live in this pretend world and be silent, risking our own lives in the process.

I don't agree with Dr. Carson's views on illegal immigration, but I think he is right on the mark in this commentary.

This article was written by Ed Straker, senior writer of NewsMachete.com, the conservative news site.