The Redhunter

A Liberal Icon

A decent man makes different judgments in different circumstances.

Members of the Jehovah's Witnesses were prosecuted during World War II for refusing to let their children recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, a liberal, wrote the majority opinion in the case. He upheld the school expulsions and parental prosecutions for violating compulsory attendance laws.

Justice Frankfurter observed that "the mere possession of religious convictions which contradict the relevant concerns of a political society does not relieve the citizen from the discharge of political responsibilities."

This is particularly applicable to the situation we face today. Radical Islamists are demanding to be covered by Shariah -- laws compiled over a thousand years of Muslim jurisprudence, based on the Koran and its commentaries -- rather than by the laws of the United States, Britain, Germany or the other non-Muslim nations in which the radical Islamists live.

Yet many in the West cannot seem to understand this basic fact. We hear time and time again that "the vast majority of Muslims are not terrorists", as if that is what mattered. What the liberals today ignore (deliberately?) is the fact that the majority are in sympathy with the terrorist's goals.

A recent poll taken in the UK showed that barely half of British Muslims described themselves as loyal to their country.

This is not even the worst of it. Tony Blair seems dedicted to pursuing his goal of "engagement" with radical Muslims despite their obvious Jew-hatred and conspiracy minded thinking.

Michelle Malkin was beaten up by the liberal elite for her daring book "In Defense of Internment: The Case for Racial Profiling during World War II and the War on Terror", which I reviewed a few months ago. While I'm not entirely sure I agree that internment was the right policy, I do certainly understand and sympathize with those who made the decision to do so. Those who claim that the entire affair was based on racism are completely wrong.

Today we have a similar situation. Any attempt to challenge Muslims on sympathy for terrorism is met by crys of "racism", as if that were the issue. But the Muslims have learned well. They know that many on the right, politicians especially, cower before such a charge, and liberals eat it up. This is why, for example, groups with ties to terrorism, like CAIR, are listened to in mainstream society (Regarding CAIR, see here, and here).

Frankfurter demanded that all schoolchildren cite the Pledge of Allegiance. He rejected claims by the Jehovah's Witnesses that they had a religious right to keep their children from participating. Considering the situation today, Blankley concludes that

Today, schoolchildren, senators and elite journalists would giggle at the idea of applying Justice Frankfurter's lofty words to the defense of the modest little Pledge of Allegiance.

But back then, as now, we were a nation of newly arrived immigrants, threatened from abroad and bombarded with destructive ideologies.

Then, it was communism and fascism. Today, it is multiculturalism, political correctness and, among the Muslim population, radical Islam.

How true.

Tomorrow: Part III