Selling Fear: Congressman's anti-Muslim remarks Reflect Lack of Faith in America

[marmar]

Selling fear
12/26/2006
Email to a friendPrinter-friendly

Congressman's anti-Muslim remarks reflect a lack of faith in America


We have nothing to fear but ourselves.

In the depths of the Great Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt counseled Americans that they had nothing to fear but fear itself.

Today, some Americans are letting their fears get the better of them when it comes to Muslims, especially those living in the United States.

In a jaw-dropping letter to constituents, U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va., played to the worst of some people's fears. The Associated Press reported that Goode wrote that unless immigration is tightened, "many more Muslims" will be elected and follow the lead of a recently elected lawmaker who plans to use the Quran at his ceremonial swearing-in.

He was referring to Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat and the first Muslim elected to Congress.

In the letter, Goode wrote, "The Muslim representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don't wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran."

Goode said the U.S. needs to stop illegal immigration "totally" and reduce legal immigration.

Goode added: "I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America and to prevent our resources from being swamped." ....... (more)

The complete column is at: http://www.timesonline.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17632981&BRD=2305&PAG=461&dept_id=478566&rfi=6

[rpannier]

1. Give you a greatest

This is too important to let be buried.

And a :kick:

[ixion]

2. second that...

kicked and recommended

[tavalon]

3. I do believe this needs to move on up the ranks on the greatest page

Methinks, though, that Virgil will be finding himself on the Top Ten Idiots list next week.

I've added my recommendation.

[GenDem]

4. Virgil Goode represents a very frightening faction of society.

This is a philosophy of hate with a sprinkle of fear for good measure. It seems we are a society that has a history demanding an enemy. Muslims are the new flavor since 9-11, and maybe a bit before. Whether it's race, politics, or religion we must find someone to hate. It fuels the military industrial complex.

Sadly, a majority of Virgil's constituents are supporting this venom. This is the mindset that brought us the Japanese internment camps during WWII. Will we ever learn?

[annabanana]

5. Virgil is one of those scairdycat Republicans. .

........too nervous to be a real American, I think.
Lack of belief in our creeds and traditions is not much of a qualification for someone to be trying to run the place for us, right?:shrug:

[Heywood J]

6. Mr. Goode needs to be nominated

for the next Top10 list, definitely. What he proposes is an incorrect way of trying to disenfranchise and underrepresent an entire religious group - a return to the dark days of Jim Crow and a blatant appeal to creating a state-sponsored religion by excluding others. He has, in essence, stated his intentions to violate the Constitution (and possibly the Civil Rights Act, depending on his intended scope) in order to discriminate on the basis of religion and/or race.

What is this now, the new northern Ireland? Of course, never you mind the number of black or Asian Muslims, those who already live in the US legally, or those who are native-born. As far as he knows, they only come in the new-immigrant Arab variety.