How to boil a frog
In getting to know a young man from Mumbai, I was surprised that he wanted to come to America, to live here and be an American. His main reason for wanting to be here is philosophical. It's not about making money or religious and social freedom, but about the very things our forefathers believed possible when they wrote the Constitution and gave birth to this nation in blood and fire. It's about freedom and a government like no other on this planet. It's about our democratic way of life.
There are other democratic countries with constitutional monarchies and parliamentary democracies, but there is only one America. That is why no matter what the current President does or say to undermine this country and its people, no matter what he gives away or how he denigrates the people and the men and woman who fought and continue to fight for us all, the United States of America will remain like a shining beacon in the encroaching darkness.
America is not just a country, but an ideal, a way of life and belief that is unlike anything that has come before or since. Our government was an idea, an experiment born out of the failures of democracies throughout history, and experiment that works and still works. While illegal immigrants may come for the money they make and send home, people like that young man from Mumbai come because they believe in what America stands for: freedom and justice. You can't certainly can't tie an idea to a building or a statue and what you cannot destroy you cannot kill.
Lynn and I were talking, as we do every Sunday morning, about Star Trek and freedom. The one thing that makes this country unique is its tolerance for other ethnicities, beliefs and religions. It is our strength and the reason why people come to our shores and become citizens. It's also our weakness. We will fight to protect the freedoms guaranteed in our Constitution and those very freedoms can be used to undermine our government and destroy those freedoms we hold dear.
When people of other faiths and religions come to our shores they know they can practice their beliefs in peace and safety -- for the most part. There will always be idiots prejudiced against any beliefs but their own. As we open our arms to welcome and embrace these people, we should also be aware that not all of them want to live free and protect those around them. They want to destroy our way of life so that their beliefs are the only ones accepted. Anything that undermines or goes against the laws and truths laid down in the Constitution should be removed the way a surgeon removes a cancerous tumor. If even so much as one cell remains, it will grow another tumor in time. We must remain vigilant and recognize that a poisonous snake, however tame it seems, will always be a poisonous snake and its nature is undeniable. Given the opportunity, when it is no longer cold and near death, as it warms to life it will strike with deadly purpose. So when we welcome other people to our shores, we must keep in mind that although they are free to practice the religion of their choice, they are not free to bring with them their laws; those laws stand contrary to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Every township, city and state that makes room for and allows Shari'a practices to become the rule of law is in violation of the principles on which this country is founded and is an affront to every man, woman, and child in this country. When government officials say they believe Shari'a Law and the Constitution can be practiced side by side evidently has never read the Constitution. We have no room for another government or rule of law. We have our own, no matter how some lawyers seek to twist and bend the words and the intent of the law. Any elected or appointed government official who gives credence and validity to Shari'a is a traitor to this country and to the people s/he serves.
We are frogs sitting in a pan of water under which the heat is slowly rising and if we do not jump out of the pan now it will be too late when the water is boiling. Do not be fooled by smiles and empty rhetoric. Don't turn a blind eye to the truth. Do not take the country or your freedoms for granted or you will soon find yourself without any freedom at all while Shari'a Law determines your fate and, as in Britain, the Democratic Rule of Law, the law of the land, longer applies.
The pot is simmering.