Guest Post: Muslims in America

Hillary; Muslims are the front line of defense against Muslims

Peter Sage:  Guest Poster Thad Guyer has argued that Hillary, Bernie, and the progressive left generally has failed to recognize and validate the discomfort many Americans feel about Islam and Muslims.  He has argued that liberal orthodoxy of inclusion and support for multiculturalism has betrayed the progressives' own interests:
  **it ignores illiberal beliefs within Islam including disrespect for women
  **it is political suicide, since it ignores or shames many voters with legitimate concerns forcing them to leave the Democratic party to find a home with Trump
  **it creates an atmosphere of excessive political squeamishness so that legitimate issues simply cannot be voiced without being accused of racism.

He has been waiting and hoping for Hillary to acknowledge publicly that there are dangerous Muslims who require watching.  This validates the discomfort many Americans feel about Muslims, communicating that she, too, recognizes a point of potential vulnerability.    Iowa gave her the opportunity to send this message within the context of her religion--expressed as a lifelong Christian--and in the context of answering the question of an American veteran, a Muslim.   

She told the Muslim that she understood and condemned Islamaphobia, then told the Muslim questioner that Muslims would be both the "suspect" and the "police."    By acknowledging that Muslims are a concern for herself and for others she brought herself back into a mainstream of American thought.   But by positing loyal Muslims and Muslim communities as our country's best watchdog and policeman she validated inclusion and respect for minorities. 

Guyer says he is pleased that Hillary has found a rhetorical route to solving the dilemma, supporting both the inclusion AND the police power.   It is the equivalent of Reagan's "Trust but Verify."

Thad Guyer is an attorney specializing in representing whistleblowing employees.   He pays close attention to how arguments are shaped in order to persuade judges and juries.


Thad Guyer:   

Thad Guyer

Hillary Shifts the Fault Lines of Political Correctness to the Right on Christ and Radical Islamic Immigrants in America 

For political candidates, Iowa is both a holy land and place to deal with political realities. Complete with references to “the Lord”, “salvation” and “Sermon on the Mount”, Hillary has embraced Jesus in public policy unambiguously. See, “Hillary Clinton Gets Personal on Christ”, http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/01/25/hillary-clinton-gets-personal-on-christ-and-her-faith/?_r=0:

“I do believe that in many areas judgment should be left to God … My study of the Bible, my many conversations with people of faith, has led me to believe the most important commandment is to love the Lord with all your might and to love your neighbor as yourself, and that is what I think we are commanded by Christ to do…”

The Christ issue-- done and done! Next she moved to Islamic extremism and immigration.

Democrats will not win without acknowledging the danger of Islamic extremism in America and validating fear of it. It was a complete surprise to me that she came prepared to do it in such explicit and evocative terms at the town hall. Clinton would have waited in vain for a pre-approved question like “how will you protect us against domestic jihadists?” That question never came. But she saw her opening to make a carefully scripted statement when an Air Force veteran wearing a hijab asked a different question: “How would you protect Muslims from Islamaphobic Americans?” Unfortunately, you have to go to YouTube to see both parts of her answer, as the mainstream media so far is ignoring the second part of her answer, and extolling only the first. See, “At town hall, Clinton Says Presidency is More Complicated”, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/at-coc388-11e5-8965-0607e0e265ce_story.html. Clinton proclaimed Muslim terrorism is a threat from which “we have to protect ourselves in America”. See, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RngcgciVMaA, minute 2:50. As the cameras did a split screen of Clinton and the questioner, the latter’s facial expression grew darker as Clinton warned that American Muslims must watch for radicalized neighbors and report them to police. I felt sorry for the questioner because she certainly did not intend to unleash this proclamation. But Clinton was explicit that Muslims in the U.S. must protect themselves from—Muslims in the U.S. Regarding a “big group of Somali Americans” she had met with she said:

“But they are also on the front lines of trying to protect their children from radicalization. They are on front lines in Minneapolis of working with law enforcement to make sure that what they see and hear they report in case there are any problems. We have to protect ourselves in America in a unified way. That means making sure that our Muslim friends and neighbors are part of us, they are with us. They are on the front lines of defending themselves, their families, their children and all the rest of us.”

This is a point that Trump makes at every rally—American Muslims know what is going on and they need to report Muslims who are going radical to the police.

Clinton will probably put Jesus on hold after Iowa but resurrect Him as she heads into the Bible Belt. But by in effect acknowledging that Trump and Cruz are correct that Americans—Iowans-- have legitimate fear of homegrown Islamic terrorists, she has moved the bounds of liberal political correctness to the right. In a mere 24 hour period, Clinton dispatched the naysayers who think she never looks to Jesus, and that she is blind to domestic Islamic terrorism. And she raised the question of whether Sanders is just a socialist, or indeed a godless socialist who could care less about Islamic extremism. Bravo Democrats! We may yet have a chance to save Obama’s legacy and the Supreme Court.