I often cringe when liberals call Republican politicians racist. Sure, some random congressman from Texas may say something stupid once in a while, and their leadership is overwhelmingly white, but that alone doesn't make them bigoted.
This is precisely why this past year has been so mind-boggling. The Republican Party is effectively alienating every minority group in this country. And while big attendance at Tea Party rallies may look good now, the antics of Rush Limbaugh and Roger Ailes will decimate the party of Abraham Lincoln.
As much as Bush was reamed out for his racial insensitivity during Hurricane Katrina, this movement is not his fault. The blunt truth is, blacks have and will continue to not vote Republican. Thank Ronald Reagan, Lee Atwater or, ironically, Lyndon Johnson for this.
No, the conservative right is now making a concerted effort to shut out anybody who's different. It's no longer just blacks and gays, but Mexicans and Arabs too. Take Archie Bunker and turn him into an entire political party, and you'll get a better idea of what we're dealing with.
I know I'll get flamed for this piece. People will say I'm pulling the race card and they'll be right.
But this "Ground-Zero Mosque" perfectly captures the growing sentiment of "Us vs. Outsiders" on the right side of the spectrum. I live twelve miles from New York City. I saw the smoke on 9/11 and know people who were in the twin towers at the time. This idea that some know-nothing congressman from 3,000 miles away can tell ME how New Yorkers feel, is ludicrous. How would you feel if you were a Muslim New Yorker who had a family member die in the World Trade Center right now? It's like these people don't even matter.
To those against the building of this place of worship, I offer you a question. Would you be against building a church adjacent to the Oklahoma City office building which was blown up by Timothy McVeigh? McVeigh was an insane, radical Christian just like the 9/11 attackers were crazy, radical Muslims. Only an idiot would blame an entire religion for the acts of individuals.
It reeks of arrogance, to think that antagonizing both Muslims and Latinos will not hurt in the long run. These groups may not dominate the Cable TV ratings or post inane comments on news websites, but they most certainly exist. The biggest state in the country will most likely be majority Latino within the next five years.
I feel for the Republicans who abhor these tactics. With the growth of the Tea Party movement, many moderates have been forced to choose between their morals and their careers, something I wouldn't wish on anybody.
The Democratic Party is far from perfect. They've made far too many mistakes over the past year and when they do something right they're often too scared to admit it. But when their rivals compare Muslims to Nazis, call their black president an alien and blame every conceivable problem on the Mexicans, they needn't worry. They'll be in power until the Republican's realize who the "real Americans" really are.
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Geographically the biggest or population-wise? You want to qualify that, because, geographically speaking, the biggest state in the country is Alaska, and I don't think that's in any danger of going Latino anyways soon.
That said, it's not just the Right who treat our biracial President appallingly. The Right are simply more open about their contempt, although they try to mask it with epithets like "socialist" and "communist." Truth is, the Right treat Obama like the escaped slave who needs to be beaten and then lynched, whilst the Left treat him like the lovechild of a token Affirmative Action appointment and Prissy from Gone With the Wind. And that's equally appalling.
I think many of us are seeing the same thing. I have written about this yesterday as well. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yuna-shin/ground-zero-mosque-politi_b_685684.html
This attack on the "ground zero mosque" is troubling on so many levels. The most disturbing to me is that It goes against the core beliefs that we hold for what America is and what is so great about it.
The GOP noisemakers have been so busy making noise in order to score political points without regard to the Constitution or the electorate. I hope that many more of us start demanding leadership from all of our leaders.
When you think about, you really have to ask why they are so desperate to get back in power. A GOP controlled House led by these clowns would spend their time hysterically passing bills that would make the Terry Schiavo fiasco look reasonable. It would probably help Obama, since he could propose all sorts of aid for hurting Americans and be able to blame to the GOP directly for it not happening.
Then there is the future. Archie-Americans are not a growing demographic. Its a slow suicide.
You know, the Know-Nothings achieved brief electoral success in Massachusetts by exploiting anti-Irish, anti-catholic sentiment. A century later an Irish Catholic is elected President - form Massachusetts.My relatives from ireland jokingly refer to Boston as the "Western Counties of Ireland". Irish_American culture has become as cliched as clam chowder and Red Sox nation.
And the Know Nothings are long gone.