The governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, is widely viewed as having presidential ambitions. Many of his recent statements, it is believed by pundits, have been made in order to court the primary voters. For example, in a recent speech in front of the conservative Heritage Foundation, he described himself as “red speck in a blue state.” More importantly however, he questioned why the government wasn’t wiretapping mosques in order to prevent terrorism.
Somewhere between six and seven million Americans worship in mosques. For them, these are places of prayer and study. To casually mention that their places of worship should be subject to law enforcement surveillance based solely on their faith is the worst sort of profiling. And it is a fundamental betrayal of the principles of religious freedom and toleration on which this nation was founded.
What happened on September 11, 2001 was certainly painful for every American. But it seems to me that the more lasting harm to our society has come from those who are most outspoken about the need to prevent such an attack from ever happening again. Romney’s comment highlights the fact that there has been a continuous erosion of civil liberties ever since the Twin Towers fell.
If we accept President Bush’s assertion that the terrorists hate us because we are free, I guess that making Americans less free is certainly one way to ensure they hate us less. But it seems a cowardly choice.
Terrorism is predicated on the idea that we can be made to be irrationally afraid. Its goal is to drive wedges into our society so that we destroy ourselves in an attempt to be safe. By making it seem that every Muslim is a potential terrorist and every mosque a potential terrorist training camp, the governor of Massachusetts has immeasurably aided in that very process.
Gov. Romney’s office may be reached at 617-725-4005. Please call and let him know that you don’t appreciate his support of religious bigotry and that you want him to issue an apology to the Muslim-American community.
