Newt Gingrich

For the life of me I cannot understand why people describe Newt Gingrich as an intellectual or a historian. If he is an intellectual and/or a historian he is also a liar and the worst sort of demagogue. He says America should not allow Muslims to build mosques in this country as long as Saudi Arabia discriminates against Christians. Anyone who is educated and rational knows that the reason why we must allow the followers of Islam to build places of worship in this country is because the first amendment of our constitution guaranties the freedom of religion. What any other country does is irrelevant. We are a nation of laws, and our constitution is our constitution. No real American would ever violate our laws or renounce the principles on which those laws are based because of what some other nation does!

Not being content to spew forth this absurdity about violating the first amendment in order to protect our freedom, Mr. Gingrich wanders even farther into the insane world of right wing paranoia. He actually said he would pass a constitutional amendment making it illegal to replace our constitution with sharia law. It is difficult to imagine a statement more ignorant than that. Anyone who graduated from high school knows there is already a vast body of law to prevent the establishment of sharia law in this country. That body of law is called the Constitution, and among the laws that prevent the establishment of sharia law is the very same first amendment Mr. Gingrich wants us to violate. We cannot have a law guaranteeing the freedom of religion and not have a law guaranteeing the freedom of religion. We either have that freedom or we do not. Whipping up irrational fears about imaginary threats to our constitution actually threatens the body of law Mr. Gingrich so disingenuously claims he is trying to defend. In this case it threatens one of the most fundamental freedoms our constitution guarantees. What Mr. Gingrich is advocating is like burning down your cabin to protect it from a forest fire. To say that his logic is flawed would be an understatement.

The greatest threat to our constitution and the freedom it guarantees is not Islam; rather it is demagogues like Newt Gingrich who would have us violate the rights set forth in our constitution. The fact that he is considered a prominent member of the Republican Party is yet another example of how intellectually bankrupt that party has become. There is no depth to which he and other members of that party will not stoop in order to exploit the ignorance and irrational fears of what they consider to be the base of their party. This is a very dangerous thing for them to do. When beliefs and irrational fears cause us to ignore facts and reject rational thought all we are left with is rage. Need I remind you that beliefs, irrational fears, and rage are what drive the very terrorists we are trying to defeat?

The America I know and love is a tolerant nation that wants to know the facts and places a high value on reason. It is a nation of hard working people who embrace the lofty principles that are stated in our declaration of independence and are codified in our constitution. It is a beacon of freedom that became the most prosperous nation on earth. It is a shining example for all people who long to be free. We must renounce the demagogues who would make it anything less than that.