A few nights ago my wife and I got in a fight. Well, it was more of a heated discussion. Usually I have no trouble seeing both sides of an issue. I sometimes get frustrated because I wish there were more things I was sure of in this world. When I listen to the news I often sympathize even with the most unsympathetic characters. Sadly, I even have a defense for democracy-suppressing dictators. Perhaps I will dare to share that defense with you some day if you promise not to hate me.
Anyway, on the particular issue that my wife and I were discussing I don’t understand the counter-argument at all. No, it wasn’t about cleaning the bathroom more than once a month or tending to the baby just because she happens to have chosen a particular moment to wail inconsolably. But my wife, operating under the customary assumption that I am wrong, took up the counter-argument, partly by asking me some honest questions and partly just to play devil’s advocate. She’s really good at advocating for him. Anyway, I’m going to present my argument here. If you goad her, perhaps you can get her to give a response to whatever I’m about to write on her blog, but I doubt that will happen because her blog isn’t as pugnacious as mine.
So the issue is Cordoba House. As you may or may not know an Imam named Feisal Abdul Rauf has a vision for an Islamic community center a couple of blocks from ground zero. Some see this as normal real estate development and some see this as an insensitive gesture akin to rubbing salt in America’s deepest collective wound. In May, when a community board committee approved the project, conservative bloggers (the most popular of whom is named Pamela Geller) called for protests which have lasted to the present day. Polls indicate that a majority of Americans oppose the building of Cordoba House so politicians are all choosing their words carefully, but luckily I don’t have to choose my words carefully because nobody reads this. It is frightening to think that perhaps I have lost touch with the majority and turned into the left-wing radical that my mom always hoped I would be. But since when was it left-wing to let somebody build a religious center wherever they want?
I should preface my argument by saying that I empathize with people who suffered unspeakable loss because of what happened on 9/11 and are subsequently angry and suspicious of Islam. I can only try to understand what you have been through. But other than the understandable visceral response that some feel, I would urge the protesters not to let their grief impede the cause of liberty. Two wrongs will not make anything right.
I believe that there are religious overtones here (thank you Terry Jones) that I may address in a subsequent post, but for now I will limit my argument to the cultural/political arena. I will mostly respond to this statement by Newt Gingrich because a friend of a friend recently posted it on Facebook saying it was the most persuasive and historically accurate argument against allowing the Cordoba House to be built.
So, here’s my argument. It is not pro-American to protest the center because America was founded on the principal of religious freedom. I feel like that should be the end of the argument, but it appears that more needs to be said on this. In essence, Gingrich’s essay argues that Cordoba House is a deliberate insult to Americans and that our toleration of it would be shamefully timid, passive, and historically ignorant. So how should we respond to this “Islamist cultural-political offensive designed to undermine and destroy our civilization?” Newt obviously thinks we should respond with force, by imposing our will on would-be mosque builders. I disagree. I would rather that America responded with dignity, by rising above the situation. Even if Cordoba House is a deliberate slap in America’s face, if we love America we should help her choose her battles wisely. Rather than responding like a petulant playground bully, we should be like a wise and seasoned teacher. If some kid comes up and smacks me in the face on the playground, sure, I would like to twist his little arm until something goes snap, but that’s not what grown-ups do. Discretion really is the better part of valor, even in the culture wars. So if American political ideals are really better than Islamic political ideals then we should demonstrate it, by allowing freedoms even if Saudi Arabia would deny them to us.
So, aside from taking a collective breath and counting to ten, we should remind Newt that culturally we are anything but timid and passive right now. We are occupying other countries, actively trying to spread democracy, and militarily all but untouchable. I’m not arguing that these things are wrong. But I am saying that whether or not we are walking softly in this world we are carrying an enormous stick. We spend $700 billion on defense every year, almost as much as the rest of the world combined. (By the way, that is over $2,000 per person per year, $6 per day) The point is that we can afford to be the grown-ups here. In fact, we can’t afford not to. The world is watching and wants to know if our ideals are really something worth fighting and dying for in their own countries. All the military might in the world will not buy you a single friend, but if that military might defends an area of the globe that truly values liberty, everyone’s liberty, then people will take notice.
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