It wasn't that long ago that then-President Bush tried to separate the extremists within Islam from the rest of its adherents. Bush had his faults, but he did try to present a more tolerant version of conservatism at least when it came to religion. How times have changed. A recent Politico post shows that many of the potential 2012 GOP presidential nominees are already showing their anti-Muslim credentials in speaking out against the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque."
The thing about this, is that when you basically decide to play the game that Muslim extremists want- which is a war of between civilizations, there is basically only one way to settle things: through war. I'm not a pacifist and I'm not anti-military, but I tend to think that you don't want to use the military all the time. Americans are willing to fight for what they believe in, but they aren't willing to engage in endless war.
In someways, what Sullivan says in another post makes some sense:
I think it's time to acknowledge what we are increasingly learning: the base of the GOP - aided and abetted by what's left of their elites - want a religious war abroad and at home not on Jihadism, but on Islam itself. And a vote for the GOP is a vote for this agenda. It is a vote for global warfare and domestic division.
Now, I think that Sullivan is, as usual, being a bit too sweeping in his statement. I don't think all Republicans support this bigoted agenda. But I do think that what is called the base of the GOP is declaring war on Islam and that's bad news for all of us.
That said, it is up to those who are conservative and/or libertarian to speak up against such hatred and denounce politicians who play along. It's the only way to save conservatism and the Republican Party from itself.
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1 comment:
There are two major factors that these conservatives are missing in advocating this war against Islam.
1. We definitely shouldn't attack a single religion. If you consider that most of these conservatives are Christian, you'd think they would be against a religious based attack. Both to protect themselves from the same, and to prevent the viewpoint that it's a religious war they want.
2. We can't fight a war against Islam. There are Muslims in almost every country in the world, including ours. The more the American government attacks Islam as a whole, the more they endanger our populace, both at home and abroad. There simply isn't enough people in the our nations military and police forces to protect every American everywhere.
By attacking and singling out one religious group these Republicans are giving up the moral high ground and opening themselves up to attack from other groups who have been patiently waiting for a weak link in the armor to appear.
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