Ron Paul on the Islamic Center near Ground Zero
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http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=1077
Left and the Right Demagogue Mosque, Islam
Is the controversy over building a mosque near ground zero a grand distraction or a grand opportunity? Or is it, once again, grandiose demagoguery?
It has been said, "Nero fiddled while Rome burned." Are we not overly preoccupied with this controversy, now being used in various ways by grandstanding politicians? It looks to me like the politicians are "fiddling while the economy burns."
The debate should have provided the conservative defenders of property rights with a perfect example of how the right to own property also protects the 1st Amendment rights of assembly and religion by supporting the building of the mosque.
Instead, we hear lip service given to the property rights position while demanding that the need to be "sensitive" requires an all-out assault on the building of a mosque, several blocks from "ground zero."
Just think of what might (not) have happened if the whole issue had been ignored and the national debate stuck with war, peace, and prosperity. There certainly would have been a lot less emotionalism on both sides. The fact that so much attention has been given the mosque debate, raises the question of just why and driven by whom?
In my opinion it has come from the neo-conservatives who demand continual war in the Middle East and Central Asia and are compelled to constantly justify it.
They never miss a chance to use hatred toward Muslims to rally support for the ill conceived preventative wars. A select quote from soldiers from in Afghanistan and Iraq expressing concern over the mosque is pure propaganda and an affront to their bravery and sacrifice.
The claim is that we are in the Middle East to protect our liberties is misleading. To continue this charade, millions of Muslims are indicted and we are obligated to rescue them from their religious and political leaders. And, we're supposed to believe that abusing our liberties here at home and pursuing unconstitutional wars overseas will solve our problems.
The nineteen suicide bombers didn't come from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan or Iran. Fifteen came from our ally Saudi Arabia, a country that harbors strong American resentment, yet we invade and occupy Iraq where no al Qaeda existed prior to 9/11.
Many fellow conservatives say they understand the property rights and 1st Amendment issues and don't want a legal ban on building the mosque. They just want everybody to be "sensitive" and force, through public pressure, cancellation of the mosque construction.
This sentiment seems to confirm that Islam itself is to be made the issue, and radical religious Islamic views were the only reasons for 9/11. If it became known that 9/11 resulted in part from a desire to retaliate against what many Muslims saw as American aggression and occupation, the need to demonize Islam would be difficult if not impossible.
There is no doubt that a small portion of radical, angry Islamists do want to kill us but the question remains, what exactly motivates this hatred?
If Islam is further discredited by making the building of the mosque the issue, then the false justification for our wars in the Middle East will continue to be acceptable.
The justification to ban the mosque is no more rational than banning a soccer field in the same place because all the suicide bombers loved to play soccer.
Conservatives are once again, unfortunately, failing to defend private property rights, a policy we claim to cherish. In addition conservatives missed a chance to challenge the hypocrisy of the left which now claims they defend property rights of Muslims, yet rarely if ever, the property rights of American private businesses.
Defending the controversial use of property should be no more difficult than defending the 1st Amendment principle of defending controversial speech. But many conservatives and liberals do not want to diminish the hatred for Islam -- the driving emotion that keeps us in the wars in the Middle East and Central Asia.
It is repeatedly said that 64% of the people, after listening to the political demagogues, don't want the mosque to be built. What would we do if 75% of the people insist that no more Catholic churches be built in New York City? The point being is that majorities can become oppressors of minority rights as well as individual dictators. Statistics of support is irrelevant when it comes to the purpose of government in a free society -- protecting liberty.
The outcry over the building of the mosque, near ground zero, implies that Islam alone was responsible for the 9/11 attacks. According to those who are condemning the building of the mosque, the nineteen suicide terrorists on 9/11 spoke for all Muslims. This is like blaming all Christians for the wars of aggression and occupation because some Christians supported the neo-conservatives' aggressive wars.
The House Speaker is now treading on a slippery slope by demanding an investigation to find out just who is funding the mosque -- a bold rejection of property rights, 1st Amendment rights, and the Rule of Law -- in order to look tough against Islam.
This is all about hate and Islamaphobia.
We now have an epidemic of "sunshine patriots" on both the right and the left who are all for freedom, as long as there's no controversy and nobody is offended.
Political demagoguery rules when truth and liberty are ignored.
Left and the Right Demagogue Mosque, Islam
Is the controversy over building a mosque near ground zero a grand distraction or a grand opportunity? Or is it, once again, grandiose demagoguery?
It has been said, "Nero fiddled while Rome burned." Are we not overly preoccupied with this controversy, now being used in various ways by grandstanding politicians? It looks to me like the politicians are "fiddling while the economy burns."
The debate should have provided the conservative defenders of property rights with a perfect example of how the right to own property also protects the 1st Amendment rights of assembly and religion by supporting the building of the mosque.
Instead, we hear lip service given to the property rights position while demanding that the need to be "sensitive" requires an all-out assault on the building of a mosque, several blocks from "ground zero."
Just think of what might (not) have happened if the whole issue had been ignored and the national debate stuck with war, peace, and prosperity. There certainly would have been a lot less emotionalism on both sides. The fact that so much attention has been given the mosque debate, raises the question of just why and driven by whom?
In my opinion it has come from the neo-conservatives who demand continual war in the Middle East and Central Asia and are compelled to constantly justify it.
They never miss a chance to use hatred toward Muslims to rally support for the ill conceived preventative wars. A select quote from soldiers from in Afghanistan and Iraq expressing concern over the mosque is pure propaganda and an affront to their bravery and sacrifice.
The claim is that we are in the Middle East to protect our liberties is misleading. To continue this charade, millions of Muslims are indicted and we are obligated to rescue them from their religious and political leaders. And, we're supposed to believe that abusing our liberties here at home and pursuing unconstitutional wars overseas will solve our problems.
The nineteen suicide bombers didn't come from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan or Iran. Fifteen came from our ally Saudi Arabia, a country that harbors strong American resentment, yet we invade and occupy Iraq where no al Qaeda existed prior to 9/11.
Many fellow conservatives say they understand the property rights and 1st Amendment issues and don't want a legal ban on building the mosque. They just want everybody to be "sensitive" and force, through public pressure, cancellation of the mosque construction.
This sentiment seems to confirm that Islam itself is to be made the issue, and radical religious Islamic views were the only reasons for 9/11. If it became known that 9/11 resulted in part from a desire to retaliate against what many Muslims saw as American aggression and occupation, the need to demonize Islam would be difficult if not impossible.
There is no doubt that a small portion of radical, angry Islamists do want to kill us but the question remains, what exactly motivates this hatred?
If Islam is further discredited by making the building of the mosque the issue, then the false justification for our wars in the Middle East will continue to be acceptable.
The justification to ban the mosque is no more rational than banning a soccer field in the same place because all the suicide bombers loved to play soccer.
Conservatives are once again, unfortunately, failing to defend private property rights, a policy we claim to cherish. In addition conservatives missed a chance to challenge the hypocrisy of the left which now claims they defend property rights of Muslims, yet rarely if ever, the property rights of American private businesses.
Defending the controversial use of property should be no more difficult than defending the 1st Amendment principle of defending controversial speech. But many conservatives and liberals do not want to diminish the hatred for Islam -- the driving emotion that keeps us in the wars in the Middle East and Central Asia.
It is repeatedly said that 64% of the people, after listening to the political demagogues, don't want the mosque to be built. What would we do if 75% of the people insist that no more Catholic churches be built in New York City? The point being is that majorities can become oppressors of minority rights as well as individual dictators. Statistics of support is irrelevant when it comes to the purpose of government in a free society -- protecting liberty.
The outcry over the building of the mosque, near ground zero, implies that Islam alone was responsible for the 9/11 attacks. According to those who are condemning the building of the mosque, the nineteen suicide terrorists on 9/11 spoke for all Muslims. This is like blaming all Christians for the wars of aggression and occupation because some Christians supported the neo-conservatives' aggressive wars.
The House Speaker is now treading on a slippery slope by demanding an investigation to find out just who is funding the mosque -- a bold rejection of property rights, 1st Amendment rights, and the Rule of Law -- in order to look tough against Islam.
This is all about hate and Islamaphobia.
We now have an epidemic of "sunshine patriots" on both the right and the left who are all for freedom, as long as there's no controversy and nobody is offended.
Political demagoguery rules when truth and liberty are ignored.
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Comments
It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
- Joe Rogan
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Why not (V) (°,,,,°) (V) ?
It's an awesome book, and a very easy read. I'd recommend it to anyone. End The Fed is great too-- I still have to read "A Foreign Policy of Freedom" as that same section of "The Manifesto" is awesome.
He is definitely gaining in popularity. He will always be the longshot for the nomination, but come 2012, he will not be able to be ignored like the mainstream media tried to do to him in '08.
Ron Paul 2012!
correct.
good article. thanks for posting.
Anyhow, I believe he is mostly right, so maybe I'm nitpicking. I do believe that it has a lot to do with an anti-lslam movement and some politicians are tapping into that for their personal gain. That said, I don't believe there would be this kind of uproar for a new mosque being built somewhere else, so it can't all just be "Islamaphobia".
Once again though, those that are truly 100% anti-Islam and all those other idiots crying "Islamaphobia" for most everything are the real problem because they keep us from having an important discussion in a rational manner.
Do they have a right to build it? Absolutely.
Should they build it there? That's a good discussion just to understand the motives of all involved.
What's wrong with the 70% of the article? or what's right with the other 30%?
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Why not (V) (°,,,,°) (V) ?
Islamophobia.
not Islamaphobia.
so anyway, here's a video of an anti islam rally at ground zero.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwaNRWMN-F4
after looking at this and taking note of their behaviour towards the black man who they thought was Muslim, what would you call these folks at their hate rally if not islamophobes?
I believe THIS is a way more important issue than a fucking building of a mosque near ground 1. I don't give a damn about this non issue, take care of the people with their health issues who took loving care to be there for rescuing others the days after 9/11. Let these people build their place of peace and let them be, one of the stupidest arguments I've seen Americans discuss in a long time.
What's more important a Mosque near ground 1 or taking of the rescue workers and their severe health issues.
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/11/e ... _11_ground
...and still fighting for health 8 years later a fucking shame!
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
this point effectively ends the debate on whether or not to build a mosque near ground zero. 9/11 was a political attack, not religious. the end.
Sounds good to me.
"With our thoughts we make the world"
i would guess no lol
Sammi: Wanna just break up?
Thus the urgent need to call out all religions for what they are. Yes those munipulatos will find another way to perpetrate the hate but wouldn't be great.
+1
So an arsonist burning down a mosque in Tennessee that people have been protesting against the building of doesn't amount to an uproar to you? What about the people in Wisconsin and California who are protesting against mosques being built in their communities?
I'm curious as to why so many people are questioning the Cordoba Initiative's "motives" - as if they're only building a mosque near Ground Zero to rub 9/11 into people's faces. There are a lot of people who think the Imam is some sinister bad guy who is building a mosque from scratch to preach intolerance... and they're completely oblivious to the fact that all he's doing is taking a building with a Muslim prayer room already in it and turning it into a community center that will CONTINUE to have a Muslim prayer room in it (along with newly-built prayer rooms for Christians and Jews).
But... if that was true... if there was no religion... there would not be a Christianity... and without a Christianity... there would not be Christian Values. Without Christian Values... there would be no Conservatives.
So... who would be left?
Answer: Aetheists.
Hail, Hail!!!
Conservatives in America are a funny group, they're all for smaller government and hands off policy, except for when it something they like and want, then they jam it down the throats of everyone in the world.
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
I'm all for getting rid of conservatives too, except those that will obey the Constitution. I think the line between liberals and conservatives becomes almost non-existant if religion is out of the mix.
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
A fatwā (Arabic: فتوى; plural fatāwā Arabic: فتاوى) in the Islamic faith is a religious opinion concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatw%C4%81
I'm aware that the fuckheads that planned the attacks and hi-jacked the plane are fanatics, but to say religion was not involved is absurd.