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Jewish World Review August 13, 2010/ 3 Elul, 5770 The Twin Towers of Progressive Disconnect By Arnold Ahlert
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
And so the true intentions of the would-be Ground Zero mosque builders are revealed: to put it in real estate terms it is indeed all about "location, location, location." New York Governor David Patterson, in a rare moment of clear-headed thinking, offered to provide state property to the Cordoba House builders if they were willing to move the site farther away from its currently intended location, two blocks from where the World Trade Center once stood. Patterson was turned down. Is anyone who hasn't succumbed to the cancer of elitist, progressive thinking really surprised?
Like the formerly massive presence of the Twin Towers themselves, two giant issues demonstrate the complete and utter disconnect between progressives, who see the world they wish to see, and ordinary Americans, most of whom see the world the way it is:
The Ground Zero mosque is one, and the federal government's lawsuit against the state of Arizona is the other.
It is hard to remember two such galvanizing concerns playing themselves out at the same time. On the other hand, the timing itself couldn't be better: less than four months before the critical mid-term elections in November, Americans are getting an up-front and personal look at the difference between "Us" and "Them."
"Us" are the people of New York, along with the substantial majority of Americans who support them, rightly appalled by the thought of an Islamic center being constructed by media-pronounced "moderate Muslims" two blocks from where "not so moderate" Muslims exterminated nearly 3000 Americans. The "moderate" Muslims are being led by "moderate" Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf, who categorically refuses to condemn Hamas as the terrorist organization it truly is--and who's currently touring the Middle East on the taxpayer dime in yet another "Muslim outreach project" that progressive elitists love.
Here's the essence of progressive disconnect: the State Department has assured us that Rauf will be "prohibited" from doing any fund-raising for his Ground Zero project while on tour. Really? How? Is he going to wearing a wire or be followed around by a cameraman and a translator 24/7? Is his phone going to be tapped?
Only an idiot--or a liberal--could be that gullible, yet there are plenty of them willing to believe such laughable nonsense. Exactly like they believe a mosque two blocks from Ground Zero is a "wonderful expression" of religious tolerance even though, as the opening paragraph indicates, tolerance is the last thing the mosque builders themselves could give a damn about.
Rejecting Patterson's offer is as clear as it gets. At least it is to "Us." Ordinary folks know an "in your face" defiance--coupled with a big "screw you" to the millions of Americans whose lives were upended by 9/11--when they see one. And no amount of name-calling or nose-in-the-air contempt for them demonstrated by progressive elites and their media water-carriers is going to persuade them that it's any different.
Because it's not--plain and simple.
As for Arizona, that too doesn't get any plainer or simpler. The Obama administration, courtesy of perhaps the most compromised Justice Department in the history of the republic, is sending "Us" a message: we're not going to defend your property or your lives, and we're not going to allow you to do it, either. Any attempt to do so constitutes "racial profiling."
Again, progressives are completely out of touch. Millions upon millions of people have crossed our southern border illegally, the overwhelming majority of which are Hispanic in origin. Yet in the fantasy world of progressives, such a blatant statistical reality is to be treated as automatic evidence of racism if a cop has the "temerity" to factor it into any arrest. This is an extension of their similar obtuseness regarding other undeniable, but "unpleasant" realities, such as black Americans committing greater numbers of crimes relative to their percentage of the population--or the fact that virtually every terrorist plot uncovered since 9/11 involves Muslim perpetrators.
When reality conflicts with the progressive worldview, reality loses. And those who dare to mention reality are tarred and feathered by the elites, courtesy of a media which genuflects before them.
What it truly fascinating about the illegal alien debate is the progressives' refusal to say what is not racial profiling. I have yet to see a single individual from the "They" camp wiling to say what they consider a "proper" way of determining someone's immigration status in the midst of a bust, even for a felony. Ironically in liberal la-la land, no one of a particular skin color, in this case brown, should be required to prove they are here legally.
So who's profiling race again?
None of this is lost on ordinary Americans. They understand this is nothing more than a ham-fisted attempt by the progressive elites to prevent virtually anyone from being deported. They know the feds could shut down the border anytime they want to, and refuse to do so for the basest of political considerations: to prevent ordinary Americans from voting them out of office by diluting their voting power with millions of newly-amnestied illegals.
Sometimes the bromide, "experience is the best teacher" can be a painful thing for a nation. Far too many Americans bought into "hope and change" without examining the fine print, because they never lived through the last flowering of unbridled progressivism, known as the "Carter years." Right now I'd bet Jimmy Carter is the happiest man in America. With each passing day, it is becoming evident that the "worst president in modern history" will be relinquishing his title belt. And if approval stats are any indication, our Democratically-controlled Congress is already the undisputed champion and foremost representative of the giant chasm between "Us" and "Them."
And it is worth reminding "Us" that these Democrats, despite their "blame Bush" mantra have been in control for four years, come November. This is yet another "inconvenient" fact our worthless media likes to ignore.
Don't you ignore it. Toss these arrogant bums out of office in November. And remember the last time Dems were kicked to the curb in 1994, elitist anchorman, the late Peter Jennings, referred to it as a national "temper tantrum." I've got a far better term for it this time.
National catharsis.
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© 2010, Arnold Ahlert |
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