It’s really surprising to me that this Muslim cultural center a few blocks away from Ground Zero is still an issue in the media and in the political realms. The project was already unanimously approved by the only people who are authorized to make the decision in New York City, the build commission. It already has found Mayor Bloomberg’s blessing, much of the country believes that the First Amendment deserves to be upheld to American citizens in every aspect it provides, even President Obama commented on the controversy last week. Well, that is to say that he isn’t standing so firmly on his endorsement of the most basic constitutional protections, but any critically thinking person who truly believes in the wisdom of the Founding Fathers and the tenants our nation was built on would agree that it is disgusting that this group of religious believers has been so loudly discriminated against by so many.

The logical conclusion of this debate however, as it has been with almost every issue the Right has brought up in the last year and a half, comes down to siding with an ideology in the Republican mind frame that states that it’s OK to say “fuck you” to a group or an organization or people of a certain ethnicity if those peoples’ values or skin color don’t match that of the Conservative mainstream. The debate gets dressed up in fancy language on television or gets blown so out of proportion you really can’t take the talking heads seriously anymore, but if you were to draw a line way down to the Right’s ultimate conclusion on issues like immigration, healthcare for poor people, the right for a seemingly oppressed minority to practice their faith freely, they would rather entourn/deport/exile/kick out/let die/or possibly, in certain people’s cases, kill with their bare hands than be forced to live another second with these Mexicans, Muslims, Black Panthers, Terrorist Baby rearers, Homos, and other people they flat out don’t like.

You have to let the other side’s words speak for themselves with this mid-term election coming up and with the 2012 election not to far in the distance (my bet is on the media starting serious coverage of the 2012 race the day after the midterm elections are over, by the way). They will try to make their points sound educated and responsible with lots of fancy opinion poll numbers and “facts” about religion and border crossing and so forth in a debate, but since debates are no longer fought over reason or compromise and instead turn straight to emotional appeals, the job of a counterpoint to a Conservative these days is to draw out the other side’s blatant disregard for common decency, law, and humanity.

Where else does a policy of “we can’t have these extra 20 million illegal immigrants in our country anymore taking our jobs” ultimately lead to anyway, or a policy of “we can’t have these Muslims building a YMCA in midtown Manhattan because they creep us out”? Pundits and politicians on the Right are always so vocal about letting us ask them for answers. If you’d just *let* us take the reigns on Healthcare Reform we’ll deliver a solid solution. If the Republicans weren’t the minority party we would have figured out this immigration situation already.

What happened when we let the Republicans circle the wagons in order to produce their clearly laid out plan for Healthcare Reform? We got a 14 page document that certainly has words written on the page, but like the Republican’s current savior-in-Chief Sarah Palin, the long winded positive sounding rhetoric is just political busytalk with no actual figures or actionable solutions for the problem at hand. If this is the best they can come up with we might as well let the Right embarrass themselves by trying to submit the laws they’d really deep down want to pass.

Like laws to strip the Constitution of the 14th Amendment, or bills to cut taxes for the wealthiest people in the nation while we scramble to try and find money to pay off our country’s debts with, or laws that would provide medical care to every person in America, just without the ability get the proper treatment in the event of becoming unhealthy, or laws that ban homosexuals from openly serving in the military, and for that matter, ban them from existing in general society all together!

At the end of the day Newt Gingrich, Sean Hannity, the Tea Party, that crazy lady from Long-Island who wears too much make-up and doesn’t want a Muslim cultural center going up in NYC, they are all basing policy they’d like to see be law off of their value judgement against another human being. There’s no problem with holding an opinion like that (besides how crass it is), we have the First Amendment for a reason and they damn well better be thankful for that, but there is a problem with coaxing the public opinion and making them believe that their opinions are valid because “that’s what the Founding Fathers would have wanted” or “that’s not what the Constitution really means” or some other fantasy world conclusion that would serve to justify their unfounded opinions. Just don’t use that logic for problem solving guys, you’re bothering the smart politicians in the room.

Barack Obama or the Democrats or any other element that identifies with thinking and writing good policy over resorting to faith-based arguments and screaming and yelling at Anderson Cooper over “Terror Babies”, these people should not need to back down off of their arguments just because there’s a contingent of voters out there who are crazy and would probably vote for Rand Paul for president and don’t like Latinos, Muslims, African-Americans, single mothers, or the poor in the first place. Let them rage all over the airwaves for as long as they want, spouting off opinions that make no sense, as long as this yelling and screaming and bawling and crying continues to never have a place in the final legislation of a real law, let them flounder in dust. Oh, and remember to remind voters and the public about this fact during the election season. The American public needs this certain kind of educational experience before 2012 and Sarah Palin is eligible to be voted for as a presidential candidate.