Last of Our Kind

There is so much at stake in this election. I think everyone has figured this out by now. This is the election of a lifetime. It presents us all with a choice between two very distinct candidates, and two very distinct ideas about the proper course for this country. I think everyone who is paying attention, and anyone reading this, probably knows the particulars of which candidate stands for what. And if they do not, I think most people are doing what must be done to learn the facts. At least I hope that is the case.



Unfortunately, I still see and hear from so many people out there that for some reason still think Barack Obama is a Muslim or a terrorist or both. Friends I thought I knew, TV personalities, radio personalities, pundits, bloggers, and even young people…people that I thought would not be taken in by the lies and distortions of the republican machine and the McCain Smear-Talk Express. I have some news for everyone…we have a little thing called freedom of religion in our country. That freedom covers everyone in our country, and any religion they care to practice, including no religion at all. You know what that means? It means our president is NOT REQUIRED to be a Christian. Now, I know Christianity is the major religion in the United States, and for that reason, people elect leaders who most closely reflect and embody their beliefs and values, but nowhere does it say it has to be this way. What “values voters” seem to forget is that there is much more at stake in this election than someone’s Christian beliefs. I am not advocating for any particular religion or non-religion here. I am not saying we should have a Muslim president, and I am not saying we should have an atheist president. I am, however, saying it should not matter. I am saying that I want a president that is going to address the major issues facing our country in both the foreseeable and unforeseeable future. I want a president that is going to address our strained relations abroad by communicating and using…uh…what is the word I am looking for…must have forgotten…oh yeah…DIPLOMACY. I want a leader that will recognize climate change and global warming for the problems that they are, and do something about them (because they are NOT a myth). I want a new president that is going to change our energy policy, take us off foreign oil, invest in clean renewable energy sources, and commit to increasing fuel efficiency standards. I want someone who will do something about the failed economic policies of the last eight years, someone who will cut taxes for the middle-class (the word middle-class does not exist in McCain’s lexicon). And I do not care if that president needs to ask himself, “What would Jesus do?” or “What would Allah do?” or Vishnu or Buddha or Confucius or logic or reason, before making a decision, I just care that he makes the right one. The right decision for you, for me, for your children, your grandchildren, and so on and so forth.

Guess what? The Muslim religion is not synonymous with terrorism, and being a terrorist does not automatically mean you are a Muslim. I know…I know, that was a bit repetitive, but I have to think, no, hope that…maybe if we repeat things enough, it will get through the thick skulls of the ignorant bigots who actually believe it. Once more for those with small-minded proclivities: NOT ALL MUSLIMS ARE TERRORISTS and NOT ALL TERRORISTS ARE MUSLIMS! Anyone who is still clinging to the idea that Obama is either a Muslim or a terrorist or both, is either not paying attention, brainwashed by all of the Republican fear mongering paranoia, or just too ignorant to care.



I am sure some of those bigots out there will say, “Well he did associate with that terrorist Bill Ayers!” And to you I say what everyone already knows…Obama was EIGHT YEARS OLD when The Weather Underground was active. Which is kind of like saying, “You are a Christian, and therefore you are responsible for the Crusades of the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries.” I digress, perhaps that was a stretch, but you see my point. Obama served on a bipartisan education board with Ayers. It was a committee that was funded by Walter H. Annenberg, a well-known philanthropist and education advocate, and friend and advisor to Republican icon, President Ronald Reagan. Some people will say he was raised Muslim. So what if he was? It does not mean he is still a Muslim. Besides that…all of this is making me stray from my main argument: It should not matter one-way or the other. That is why we have a little thing called Separation of Church and State.

Now we are all entitled to our opinions, I will not deny that. However, a right to your own opinion does not make it a good opinion. I am sure everyone who still thinks Obama is a Muslim, still believes it, and thinks that my opinion is a bad one. That is fine. I do not expect to change your mind today or tomorrow or maybe even ever, but I have said what I believe to be true, and call it a hunch, but I think there are a few others out there who would agree with me.

I will let you all be the judge. Tell us your thoughts.

Until next time,
Your trusty neighborhood-misguided-idiot-liberal-nutjob-anti-American-socialist-communist-(insert Republican talking point insult here)
-LoOK

Post Script
Colin Powell on this issue from Meet the Press this last Sunday:

"I'm also troubled by - not what Senator McCain says - but what members of the Party say, and it is permitted to be said: such things as, "Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct answer is he is not a Muslim. He's a Christian; has always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, "What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country?" The answer's "No, that's not America." Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim American kid believing that he or she could be President? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own Party drop the suggestion he's Muslim and he might be associated with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing it in America.
I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery. And she had her head on the headstone of her son's grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards - Purple Heart, Bronze Star; showed that he died in Iraq; gave his date of birth, date of death. He was twenty years old. And then at the very top of the headstone, it didn't have a Christian cross. It didn't have a Star of David. It had a crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Karim Rashad Sultan Kahn. And he was an American. He was born in New Jersey, he was fourteen years old at the time of 9/11 and he waited until he could go serve his country and he gave his life."