Sunday, April 3, 2011

Congressional time-wasters

So what are the big issues on Capitol Hill these days? The federal budget, right? I mean, the situation's so ridiculously urgent that we really do need to have a decision made.

Of course, the newest thing that Congress is wasting it's time on - the Muslim threat. Get this, an actual debate is going on about the threat posed by Muslims in America who live near each other, build communities separate from others, and believe in the role of Islam in law. Please note that (as least as far as I know) there has been no push to make Islamic law part of American law by the Muslims in question. To quote Mike Royko, "This may not be the stupidest thing I've ever heard, but it's close."

Why don't we take this point by point?

1. There have been a lot of stories about disaffected Muslim-American youths trying to commit acts of terror against the U.S. in the media lately. The sad fact is that disaffected youths will always find some method of lashing out. Religious fundamentalism has become a popular bandwagon for some of these morons. But they's still be morons without it. And they'd do something similar without the religious trappings.
2. Ethnic groups tend to gather together. Several cities have areas called "Chinatown". There are parts of Chicago where you rarely see a car on Saturdays and most of the men are wearing black clothing, hats, and sidecurls. (for those of you who don't know, these are indications of Orthodox Jewry).
3. It is a fallacy that religious communities and religious laws do not influence the American legal and justice system today. For starters, the American legal system is based on Old English law and Judeo-Christian principles. Also, does anyone really believe that the Catholic bishops have no power in certain Boston or New York precincts and Congressional districts? What about local judges who get elected because of patronage by local religious leaders? Why should Muslims be any different?
4. This brings me to possibly the most important point. Are these beliefs hurting anyone? As I said, there is no evidence of efforts to push Islamic law into the secular arena in any official sense. Given that, we as Americans are not supposed to care. One of the greatest strengths of this country, at least in my opinion, is the freedom it allows for anyone to believe whatever they want as long as it doesn't interfere with anyone else's freedom to do the same. I fail to see how most American Muslims are doing anything to interfere with anybody else's freedom of religion.

Now all of the above points are fairly obvious. So why is Congress wasting its time on debating this fear-mongering garbage? Well, it's similar to the reasons for the success of the fear-mongering efforts of Senator Joe McCarthy (remember him?) in the 1950s or Hitler in Germany in the 1930s. Things aren't going as well as the people in power would like. Who's to blame? THEM! Who's them? COMMUNISTS. JEWS. MUSLIMS. They're too blame. Not us! Not you! Not fate!

Sigh...