America's Future: The Need for National Debates on Issues
by Dan Ehrlich


If you try to pinpoint a single problem that people have with the negativity surrounding certain world and national events, it's possibly a lack of intelligent debate on the issues...getting below the obvious to what may be the real causes of their concerns.

The View hosts Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg walked of their show after comments from guest Bill O'Reilly that Muslims carried out the 9/11 attacks. As unprofessional as this was, it was so typically Hollywood, superficial and just plain stupid.

On an ongoing unrelated issue, unemployment benefit applications have shot up in recent weeks, while everyone from the President on down is still claiming the recession is really over, yet no one will say what the recovery is supposed to be like.

These two topics have one main aspect in common; the most popular or widely publicized fears regarding them are rarely debated or even aired. This then leaves concerned citizens in the dark.

Our economy, vis-a-vis jobs, is in the toilet. For some time the living standards in many areas of the country have been declining as the unemployment rates climb, house foreclosures have been so high many banks have stopped further actions…but this has a lot to do with money they have to spend caring for so many unsold homes on their books.

Yet, are the causes of our economic woes ever really explained to the people? Of course they aren't. That’s because monetarism and the free global market have captivated every administration since Ronald Reagan’s. That and our piggish consumption have led us to where we are today.

You see, the only course on the table is to continue on as we are, dependent on China and with American jobs outsourced to Asia and Mexico. That’s right…we often forget NAFTA, which has allowed US firms to relocate south of the border, at the same time millions of illegal aliens are working north of the border.

The result of all this will be a gradual eroding of our living standards with our political leaders counting on the public’s short memory for things other than who the finalists are on Dancing with the Stars. And it’s shows such as these and side issues such as gays in the military and abortion that keep us distracted from our main problem... national survival.

We seem to be in something like Hinduism in reverse, with each generation becoming worse off than the previous one. Yet, when have we heard this or anything about our realistic long-term prospects debated or spoken of in anything but positive terms with no alternative plan of action up for discussion?

Will any president tell us to tighten our belts as he pushes for massive wide ranging foreign trade tariffs? Not likely…our politicians don’t have the time in office or the balls to make such hard unpopular choices. It’s safer to keep claiming better days are just around the corner than to try to explain how we will compete against dollar-a-day economies.

Which brings up the 9/11 shouting match on The View. The one thing we can’t discuss or debate in our so-called multi cultural nation is people…different kinds of people. Race and religion in particular can be flashpoints for anger and even violence.

Since the Cold War, Communism an the Evil Empire have been largely forgotten, even though we have become a vassal state to the largest Communist nation of all, these have been replaced by a War on Terrorism as our main distraction.

Yet, the only terrorists the world seems to be facing are Muslim terrorists. So, was O’Reilly off base when he said on the show that Muslims attacked us on 9/11?…Of course not. They certainly weren't Icelanic terrorists. What gave Behar and Goldberg hot flashes was their reading into O’Reilly’s comments that he was referring to all Muslims, which he wasn’t, but irregardless something showbiz liberals see as a red flag and their chance to grandstand with an exit stage right.

Religion by its very nature is illogical because most are based on faith not facts. But one fact is Islam teaches its supremacy over non-Islamic people…much as Christianity warns of eternal damnation for those who deny Christ…Except Islam goes further as quoted (abridged) here from the Koran:

Allah is an enemy to unbelievers. - Sura 2:98
On unbelievers is the curse of Allah. - Sura 2:161
Slay them wherever ye find them and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter. - 2:191…….

O believers, take not Jews and Christians as friends; they are friends of each other. Those of you who make them his friends is one of them. God does not guide an unjust people. - 5:54
Make war on them until idolatry is no more and Allah's religion reigns supreme - 8:39

O Prophet! Exhort the believers to fight. If there are 20 steadfast men among you, they shall vanquish 200; and if there are a hundred, they shall rout a thousand unbelievers, for they are devoid of understanding. - 8:65

It is not for any Prophet to have captives until he has made slaughter in the land. - 8:67
Allah will humble the unbelievers. Allah and His apostle are free from obligations to idol-worshipers. Proclaim a woeful punishment to the unbelievers. - 9:2-3…….
them, and lie in ambush everywhere for them. - 9:5….

Allah has cursed the unbelievers and proposed for them a blazing hell. - 33:
Unbelievers are enemies of Allah and they will roast in hell. - 41:14
When you meet the unbelievers, smite their necks, then when you have made wide slaughter among them, tie fast the bonds, then set them free, either by grace or ransom, until the war lays down its burdens. - 47:4 - 47:5

Muslims are harsh against the unbelievers, merciful to one another. - 48:25
Muhammad is Allah's apostle. Those who follow him are ruthless to the unbelievers…..

As Biblical style text this is standard stuff except the Old Testament never spoke of killing all non-Hebrews, just enemies of Israel. Yet this is what Muslims in the Third World are taught as the word of Allah as given to his Prophet. And as much as Behar and Goldberg want to deny it, a lot of the believers believe this. This, after all, is the root of the 90-year-old Arab-Israeli Conflict and the fountainhead of today’s terrorists. US security experts warn of the growing threat from homegrown Muslim radicals, some of whom have been captured in far flung lands such as Pakistan and Somalia.

This not to say that all Muslims buy this...still how do we know how many do? When have religious and political leaders done anything other than saying only extremists believe this. And what creates a US born Muslim extremist?

Has the Koran’s inflammatory passages ever really been open for debate? What Muslim leaders will risk a fatwa on their lives by daring to publicly refute these words? Because until they are refuted Islamophobia in the West will only grow. America is trying to be a successful multi cultural nation...this can only be accomplished by total equality, including religion.

So, why don’t we begin by debating what have become two major national issues?…Where our nation is heading and why and the truth about what Muslms really believe? Until Americans are able to tackle the very issues that affect their lives they will just become more frustrated and alienated from the government and society. Reality TV is only a temporary escape. There will come a time when we will have to face the issues and our future.