Muslim 2.0

 I'd like to build the world a home
And furnish it with love
Grow apple trees and honey bees
And snow white turtle doves
--Coke commercial, The New Seekers 

Why can't we all just get a long neck,
And make a toast to peace and harmony? 
--Why Can't We All Just Get a Long Neck?
Hank Williams, Jr.

 Therefore I lie with her, and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flattered be 
--Sonnet 138, Shakespeare
 _________________________

President Obama recently forcefully rebuked the rise of "inexplicable political rhetoric" against Muslims, decrying the fact that the entire Muslim community was being blamed for the violent acts of a very few. Strange days indeed, as this was spoken by a president who has killed Muslims worldwide, both observant and secular.

Besides being hypocritical it is disingenuous, for the violence perpetrated by Muslims who have recently invaded Europe makes the anti- Muslim rhetoric very explicable. Saying the reaction to Muslims is "inexplicable" does not make it so, even if it perpetuates the finely-honed image of inclusion and liberalism which we have embraced as an American self-definition.

One thing is certain: devout Muslims do not share Western Enlightenment values. Muslims are homophobic and misogynistic (which is not to say that die-hard Christians are not, but to a lesser degree and in a less public castigation), among many other beliefs they hold which do not jibe with Western protocol.

Especially dissonant at the President's talk was the presence of women in hijabs and burkas gazing agog at this president, Lewinsky-like, while he argued for the inclusivity of Muslims into Western society.  Meanwhile their bodies were hidden beneath bag-like 13th century garb. How can these women pursue happiness and the American dream when their very exclusion violates the separate-but-equal clause of the U.S. Constitution?

Is importing such reactionary foreign behaviors into America really wise? Is not the United State's the great "melting pot", into which all newcomers throw themselves in order that they might emerge from that cauldron tempered and defined as a new entity, that of the "U.S.citizen"? The modern U.S. ideal is rational thought which promotes individualism, freedom of religion, and all associated freedoms, rights and responsibilities.

While no American can deny the use of controlled immigration as a national tool, should we allow immigration of peoples en masse whom opposes the very values of our national life. Creating Enlightenment values was a hard road to hoe, but it is precious and should be defended against those who would revel in its dissolution.

Islam is not the problem, because they are very clear. No, the problem is that we Judeo-Christian types extend charitable thoughts and actions to those who neither deserve nor want this largess. U.S. charity and immigration policy should address the welfare of our nation and apply only to those willing to integrate into our value system.

The U.S. government is clamping down on social benefits across the board for our own citizens, yet we espouse bringing people in to the country who can't say with a straight face that they want be Americans.

 And we say with a straight face that they will enrich our nation. 

"You lie with me, and I with you ..."

Lowest Common Denominator

 I'm proud to be an American
Where at least I know I'm free 
--Proud to Be an American,
Lee Greenwood

 Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings 
--Let America be America Again,
 Langston Hughes
_______________________

What makes us Americans?

Ranger suggests the lowest common denominator is that we are all immigrants who left "The Old Country" behind when we headed for the United States. That goes for all of us, from descendants of the Green Mountain Boys to today's first generations.

Our grandparents left Europe to escape the wars that characterized the empires which ruled Western civilization. They left everything behind to escape the dissolution and ennui wrought by the wars of empire. 

So what has happened in this great nation of hope since 1914? The United States has involved itself in the wars of Europe, Asia, Southeast Asia and untold other zones. As of 2012, the U.S. had a military presence in almost 80% of the world's nations.

Our history since 1914 has been one of aligning and realigning with empires across the globe. in 2015 the U.S. is involved with Iran, North Korea, Russia and Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, et al. -- and to what purpose? Is the U.S. destined to destroy itself through continual war, as did the empires of Europe?

We need to determine what we will leave behind, and what is necessary to keep for our future welfare. Ranger's family left Slovakia and he does not think that either NATO or the United States should fight any war on behalf of the Slovaks, just as they should not for Ukraine or any other national entity.

The Slovaks are no longer his concern, nor should they or any other aforementioned nation be the concern of U.S. military policy.