THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD
(apologies to Keith Olbermann)
Dr. Ben Carson
WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said that he would not support a Muslim running for president of the United States. On NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, host Chuck Todd asked Carson whether a president’s faith should matter…. Carson, who placed third in the CNN/ORC poll of the Republican presidential field released Sunday, said a president’s faith would matter to him depending on what that faith is….”If it’s inconsistent with the values and principles of America, then of course it should matter,” he said. “If it fits within the realm of America and is consistent with the Constitution, I have no problem.”…. He said that Islam, as a religion, is incompatible with the Constitution.
The idea of Ben Carson expressing a willingness to discriminate against Muslims is hardly surprising; far too many Republicans will echo those sentiments these days. I’m neither surprised nor taken aback by Carson’s comments…because he’s simply telling the faithful what they want to hear. The fact is that today’s GOP is dominated by racists who believe America is a Christian nation; other faiths should go to the back of the bus. They’re willing to discriminate against those who believe in a different flavor of Supreme Being bceause, like Carson, they believe Islam to be “inconsistent with the values and principles of America.”
The truth is that America is NOT a Christian nation. Perhaps if Conservatives like Carson could be bothered to read the Constitution (or even just Article VI)they claim to revere, they’d understand that. As I’ve said many times in the past (and likely will many times in the future), American isn’t a Christian nation; it’s a secular nation with an 80% Christian majority. Being a majority doesn’t mean you get to determine whether someone from the minority gets to participate fully in public life.
Ben Carson doesn’t want a Muslim president "because of the constitution" - which expressly states: NO RELIGIOUS TESTS FOR OFFICE! Art VI ΒΆ 3
— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) September 20, 2015
If Carson wants to talk about things “inconsistent with the values and principles of America,” he might consider discussing hatred and discrimination on the basis of one’s religion. Carson, like so many other Conservatives, seems to have forgotten that this country was founded by people fleeing religious persecution in England. As happens so often, those who don’t know history are condemned to repeat it. There’s nothing about religious persecution and discrimination that’s even remotely “American.” America was given birth by those who believed mixing religion and politics to be a recipe for tyranny. If Carson knew anything of American history, he’d recognize his Islamophobia as clearly “inconsistent with the values and principles of America.”
"Dr. Carson does not believe the Constitution is consistent with today's Teapublicans," Carson's camp tells ABC https://t.co/BenGAFN58m
— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) September 21, 2015
I’m tired of authoritarian Conservatives believing their flavor of God should ipso facto be the flavor of our government. I’m tired of the Conservative arrogance inherent in their collective view that America’s a Christian nation when in fact nothing of the sort is true. More than anything, though, I’m tired of Republican Presidential candidates basing their campaign on ignorance, hatred, and divisiveness. If the only way you can run a campaign is by appealing to the darker angels of the electorate, perhaps it’s time for you to fold your tent…because you clearly have nothing positive to add to the public discourse, nor any hope of moving America forward.
