A friend says: I think Scott Adams made the best point. But before I get to that the first question is whether there is really a problem. We have let another 1.5 million Muslims into the U.S. since 9/11 and terror from Muslims has been truly statistically insignificant. And often the perpetrator is a native born U.S. citizen and not an immigrant. Then there is the point made in Peter Beinhart’s piece which actually makes sense and gives some insight why Obama is pushing the policy he is pushing.
But there is nothing rational about the response to terrorism. Even though what happened in France or Lebanon didn’t happen in San Bernardino, it is the very thought that it could happen to anyone here at any time even if by playing the odds, you are more likely to be beaned by a golf ball, that distresses people.
I don’t think people are as afraid of Muslims changing the culture in the United States as we are of Latin Americans changing the culture and that is the reason people back Trump on illegal immigration.
The problem with terrorism, is that no one, especially Obama has proposed any concrete ways of dealing with the situation that we as Americans can relate to. Beinhart is much clearer about Obama’s strategy than Obama is.
No Republican candidate has come up with a proposed way of solving the problem. No Democrat has, so as Adams points out by default Trump is the only one with a solution, as radical, practical, effective or ineffective as it may turn out to be in practice. And as you know from what thinkers from Garrett Hardin to Thomas Sowell have said, (I am paraphrasing) you can never do just one thing. You take an action and it has consequences, some of which are unintended. No one knows the consequences of Trump’s proposal — whether it will make our Muslim population more cooperative with the government out of fear that they will be deported-or whether it will cause a greater divide with non Muslim American’s, lead to resentment and more acts of terrorism, perhaps akin to what a truly marginalized Islamic population does in Israel.
The reaction is understandable. The liberal mind which wants to avoid offending and perhaps thinks taking a Trump like position will play into the hands of the more militant Islamists are lining up against Trump. But for the rest of the population, which sees itself under threat from Muslims, not only because of terrorism, but because of sympathy for terrorism and Islamic law, and sees that our authorities are doing absolutely nothing to protect the country, and that the elites seem intent on loosening restrictions and calling anyone who opposes them racist, they have no where to go but to support Trump.
Let’s see how this plays out after a week for people to settle down and see how the political fallout plays out.
