It is hard to believe that just 20 months ago the United States elected its first black president. Since then, the bad economy, Obama’s mistakes, liberal timidity and rising extremism on the right have created a flood of nastiness.
Mosques – How Far Away is Enough? One recent example is the controversy over Park 51, a mosque and community center planned two blocks away from the World Trade Center site. The demonstrations against Park 51 did not just want to protect the “sacred ground” of the 9/11 site, but attacked Islam directly with comments such as “Mohammed is a pig” and “Islam is the Devil”. A racial element even entered the event as anti-mosque demonstrators harassed an American black who stumbled into the crowd. The nastiness has gone beyond the mob. Rep. Peter King (R-NY), the ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, confused Islam with al-Qaeda, “It’s a house of worship, but we are at war with al-Qaeda.” Even some Democrats such as Sen. Harry Reid, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Gov. David Patterson also disgracefully joined the anti-Moslem bandwagon. It seems many believe that Moslem = Terrorist. Even the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) defamed Islam by saying that Moslems should be sensitive to 9/11 victims – and build elsewhere. The ADL’s position stands in stark contrast to its charter, which says, “Its ultimate purpose is to secure justice and fair treatment to all citizens alike and to put an end forever to unjust and unfair discrimination against and ridicule of any sect or body of citizens.”. Except Moslems.
If those opposed to the Islamic center don’t want to be accused of bigotry, they need to answer a few questions: Why not put it there? Why does the presence of an Islamic center equal defiling sacred ground — by being two blocks away from it? How far is “good” enough? Is Uptown too close? How about Queens? Should the mosque be in another state? Most importantly, how many anti-mosque critics are willing to support religious freedom elsewhere? Will they go to Sheboygan (Wisconsin), Murfreesboro (Tennessee) and Temecula (California) to denounce anti-Islamic protestors there – or are they really bigots in disguise?
Birtherism and Xenophobia. Another sign of bigotry is the ongoing effort to delegitimatize President Barack Obama by doubting his citizenship and religion. Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961. This was two years after the place became a state on August 21, 1959. (Incidentally, one candidate for president in 2008 was born outside the United States. John McCain was born on August 29, 1936 in the Panama Canal Zone). Obama is a Christian, and has repeatedly said so. If fact, he was in hot water once because of his preacher. If Obama’s father was an ex-Moslem atheist, so what? I thought Christianity was defined by individual faith rather than the beliefs of their parents. Isn’t what “being saved” is supposed to be about? In any case, why is atheist or non-Christian necessarily bad? What happened to separation of Church and State?
Why It’s Bad. The birther and Moslem rumors are pernicious for several reasons. One, these accusations are lies. Lying is bad because it destroys trust, obscures the truth, and undermines decision-making and human relationships. Politically, it greatly complicates policy-making, encourages more lying and weakens citizen support for a democratic government.
Two, the rumors are based in bigotry. They play on the fear of the “Other”, the “bad black man with a strange foreign-sounding name”. This raises some interesting questions. Why is there no anti-McCain birther movement? Why is Obama the first president since Kennedy coming under this kind of attack? It’s probably because like JFK, he is different.
The last problem with the birther/Moslem attacks is that they are deeply anti-democratic. Whether you like or detest Obama, he won the 2008 election. In a democracy, winners play within constitutional rules while losers accept defeat, fight over policy — and run again in the next election. The opposition should not undermine the election results by questioning an official’s citizenship. It should not attempt to impeach a president except for very rare and constitutionally defined, “high crimes and misdemeanors”. When electoral losers believe they are entitled to reject the decision of voters, they edge toward authoritarianism.
More Examples. Unfortunately, there are many more recent cases of emerging bigotry, little of which is denounced by conservative leaders. There was Dr. Laura’s exuberant and repeated use of the word “nigger” to a black woman calling her radio show. Dr. Laura’s position was supported by none other than Sarah Palin. What’s the point of being free to gravely insult someone? Dr. Laura has no First Amendment case since it was not the government that pressured her off the air. Glen Beck is so focused on perceived offenses to White America and Culture that he is edging towards white supremacy. On August 3, he connected with it with an “embrace White Pride” tweet on the infamously racist Stormfront site. Rand Paul, who is running for the Senate from Kentucky on for the GOP does not like the 1965 Civil Rights Act while Rep. Lou Gohmert (R-TX) raves on about “terror babies” Terror babies? This almost sounds like a bad joke. It gets much worse. There is the thinly disguised racial stereotyping of Obama, spreading anti-Moslem feeling outside New York’s “sacred zone”, an effort to repeal the 14th Amendment, the return of the militia movement, and the revival of John Birch Society craziness about a World New Order Government – nicely embedded in the Texas Republican Party Platform. These people claim not to be bigoted but this is hard to square with the reality that their policies always benefit the privileged at the cost of the outsider.
This xenophobia is so disturbing because much of the leadership of the Republican Party has not spoken out against it. While I would expect demagogues like Sarah Palin to embrace narrow-minded positions, the continuing devolution elsewhere is disheartening Exhibit One is John McCain’s move from immigration reform supporter to anti-illegal zealot. Mike Huckabee and others talk of America as a Christian nation. Those who don’t accept Jesus as their personal savior are not “real Americans”.
I appeal to my conservative friends to reject the intolerance. I know some of you have, but more need to stand up to defend freedom. You are better than the bigots who are staining your name. We will continue to debate the issues but we need to agree that hating others is off bounds. Moslems can be loyal Americans. Legitimate leaders can come from any political party that wins an election and we can agree that lies and demagoguery are bad for our political system. The New Left was a scourge of liberals a generation ago – and now the New Bigotry is a bane of honest conservatives. William F. Buckley Jr. had the courage to break with extremists. I hope you will too.
Religious and other tolerance is the essence of America and our Constitution. This is not only right, but works to our benefit. Since the vast majority of Moslems reject jihadism, this makes it unfair and inaccurate to connect them to this perverted sub-sect of their religion. It’s like saying all Catholics support the Inquisition or all Germans are Nazis. Respect for non-radical Islam allows us to separate “normal” Muslims from the fanatics. Rejecting tolerance betrays our values in the most profound way. It undermines reasoned debate and embraces the demagogy of the Father Coughlin, the Know-Nothings and xenophobes everywhere. While some conservatives rightly reject these disgraceful “birther”, anti-Moslem or other xenophobic sentiments, not enough have. It is time to come out of the shadows and be counted. Do you stand for freedom or not? Do you respect our constitutional liberties or not? Are you willing to debate ideas instead of attacking people – or not? The answers to these question should prove interesting.