Josh Barro at NRO:
What I find bizarre about some of the conservative response to Cordoba House is not just the objection to the construction of the mosque, but the conviction that it should be stopped by any means necessary—even if that means violating conservative principles about property rights, rule of law, and federalism.The first comment to his post has the utterly predictable "the Constitution is not a suicide pact" line, causing yet another dollop of molten lead to drip onto Robert Jackson's flesh down in Purgatory.
Part of supporting limited government is understanding that sometimes, things you don’t like will happen, and the government (especially the federal government) won’t do anything about it. Getting to do what you want comes at the price of other people getting to do what they want—including build mosques where you’d prefer they didn’t.
* * * So much of the complaint about the mosque has centered around the idea that, because hijackers acting in the name of Islam attacked the towers, Muslims should maintain a respectful distance. But the developers of Cordoba House (why do I even need to say this?) are not terrorists and did not attack the towers. Placing a burden on all Muslims to keep their institutions out of the Financial District is unfair.
And Michael Gerson (via Chait):
A president is president for every citizen, including every Muslim citizen. Obama is correct that the way to marginalize radicalism is to respect the best traditions of Islam and protect the religious liberty of Muslim Americans. It is radicals who imagine an American war on Islam. But our conflict is with the radicals alone.So you would think.
Really, it boils down to this: Some people like liviing in a free country. Some don't.
"Part of supporting limited government is understanding that sometimes, things you don’t like will happen, and the government (especially the federal government) won’t do anything about it."
ReplyDeleteAre there any conservatives, at least any vocal influential conservatives, who actually believe this though?
The great hypocrisy of libertarianism and conservatism is that they still want government in place - they just want it where THEY want it.
Well, the fact that we had to hear this from a back-bencher at NRO is a clue just how many "vocal influential conservatives" have any principles on the matter.
ReplyDelete"I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" is not on many folks' radar any more. So much for civics education.
Whenever I see that Jackson quote, I recall that the Declaration of Independence was a suicide pact.
ReplyDelete