08/19/2010
Let the cry babies cry
Should a Mosque be built near the Word Trade Center site? The U.S. Constitution addresses this issue in one sentence:
Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Most people agree and Obama has said that Muslims have the right to build a Mosque there but many, including democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, think to do so would be a mistake.
Chris Hayes of The Nation Magazine substitute hosting for Rachel Maddow say's there no "but" either you support the 1st amendment or not. He said he has a friend that said, and he agrees, that America was founded so that Muslims could built a Mosque at the 9-11 site. In other words, for religious freedom and to escape religious persecution. He says it's a sign of our national madness that the president can make the news by affirming the first amendment.
I agree. The counter argument that everyone who opposes the Mosque uses, that it just stokes the flames of hatred to build it there and why don't they just take their hammers and nails and build it somewhere else (?) is nothing less than religious discrimination. The true counter argument as I see it is, so it's protected by the constitution, so what?
Chris Hayes of The Nation Magazine substitute hosting for Rachel Maddow say's there no "but" either you support the 1st amendment or not. He said he has a friend that said, and he agrees, that America was founded so that Muslims could built a Mosque at the 9-11 site. In other words, for religious freedom and to escape religious persecution. He says it's a sign of our national madness that the president can make the news by affirming the first amendment.
I agree. The counter argument that everyone who opposes the Mosque uses, that it just stokes the flames of hatred to build it there and why don't they just take their hammers and nails and build it somewhere else (?) is nothing less than religious discrimination. The true counter argument as I see it is, so it's protected by the constitution, so what?
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The constitution has been used to protect a lot of things that I don't care for. I don't like being lied to, especially by the media, (FOX news are you listening?) but the constitution protects speech period, with the classic exception of yelling fire in a crowded theater.
There are laws on the books that are there to insure that consumer products and services aren't misrepresented to us but they are weak and getting weaker. A used car dealer doesn't have to tell you that he's selling you a hunk of junk, he may know it's a hunk of junk but he'll say its a "nice car" or use some other nonspecific, complimentary descriptive language engineered to tell you absolutely noting but at the same time create a favorable impression.
The constitution doesn't say, contrary to what the NRA would have you believe, that you have the absolute right to own guns, it says:
There are laws on the books that are there to insure that consumer products and services aren't misrepresented to us but they are weak and getting weaker. A used car dealer doesn't have to tell you that he's selling you a hunk of junk, he may know it's a hunk of junk but he'll say its a "nice car" or use some other nonspecific, complimentary descriptive language engineered to tell you absolutely noting but at the same time create a favorable impression.
The constitution doesn't say, contrary to what the NRA would have you believe, that you have the absolute right to own guns, it says:
Amendment 2 - Right to Bear Arms:A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
How many gun owners belong to a State Militia and yet the Supreme Court has ruled that the 2nd amendment gives everyone, with rare exceptions, the right to own guns.
So, I don't support lying or people carrying firearms to the grocery store, perforce, I am in opposition to the Constitution. Still, I support the Mosque being built. Our attitudes towards our freedoms shape them. If we don't exercise them we will lose them. If we could only stop letting the hateful, fearful minority trump up the non-issues we'd all be better off. It's people that don't have to work hard for a living, don't have to work with all types of people, don't have to intermingle, who are the ones that want to remake America in their image and we'd be fools to let them. Gene
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