Religious Bigotry Threatens America as a "Safe Haven" from Oppression

 "When was it too late?" Some US Jews Wonder About Their Place in America

The fact that there are Jews in America who are considering selling their property and leaving the country to escape coming persecution of the kind experienced by their European counterparts in the early part of the twentieth century is an absolutely appalling, horrifying circumstance. This isn't some kind of conspiracy-theory type paranoia, either.  There are still plenty of Holocaust survivors around, most of whom were children at the time it occurred, but the survivors have done an outstanding job of preserving the memories of both the horror of the experience, and the warning signs that it was approaching.  And what they are beginning to see, in the United States of America, are some of the same warning signs in the social and political atmosphere that preceded the Holocaust in Europe.  

This should be a wake-up call that prompts us to take action to make sure this doesn't go any further than it already has.  It's naive to think that something like the Holocaust could never happen in the United States.  In spite of our lofty idealism and the language of founding documents that talk about valuing the equality of human beings as something that we strive to achieve, our history has been one of several "holocausts" with their roots in racial and religious bigotry that is as common in America as it is everywhere else in the world.  The nation fractured and went to war over slavery, and the racism and bigotry that caused it has lasted into this century.  During the Holocaust itself, perniciously restrictive immigration policy was the result of state department obduracy that created obstacles to Jewish immigration prior to the entry of the United States into the war.  And much of that occurred after the United States government became aware of what the Germans were doing to European Jewry.  

At what point do we reach the level of maturity in our idealism, so that things like this are no longer tolerated and no longer acceptable?  When do we get to that point that we recognize that "all human beings are created equal, and are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness"?  

Capitalizing on Divisive Politics

The first time I heard Rush Limbaugh's radio program was on a small town AM radio station that covered a large swath of territory in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas.  I was driving home from a meeting, and his program caught my attention because the bigotry was obvious.  It didn't take long to figure out his agenda, which wasn't to discourage it or aspire to any kind of idealism, but to use it to advance a particular political perspective over another.  I was surprised by the intentional divisiveness, and by the fact that there was someone on a nationally syndicated radio program, originating in New York, who was promoting white supremacy and racism, and who was blaming all of the American problems of the day on those whose racial, ethnic or religious status made them a minority, and who were striving to achieve the equality promised by American idealism. 

This current revival of anti-Semitism didn't originate with Limbaugh, but he saw how to turn it into a political tool to advance his brand of extremist conservativism, and he is to blame for helping it to turn enough corners to send warning signals to Jewish Americans who always keep a wary eye out for the dangers it brings.  I'm sure he had an army of lawyers on hand, to make sure he never crossed any of the legally defined boundaries of free speech and whenever someone questioned him about it, he always made sure to point out that this was his "God-endowed" right, a term he used frequently.  But I strongly believe that he bears a huge responsibility for the rapid rise in anti-Semitism that some Jews now perceive as enough of a threat to begin making preparations to protect themselves and their families. 

It's bad enough that Limbaugh had an audience willing to accept his bigotry, and who were motivated to act by helping to elect bad politicians who made it part of their agenda when they were elected to office, setting back progress being made toward achieving American ideals, so he is no patriot, no matter how often he claimed that title.  But what's worse is that he made a fortune for himself off of of promoting what can only be described accurately as evil.  He chose himself over his country and its ideals, and he helped promote bigotry that has the potential to disrupt people's lives.  Not being willing to work toward the kind of America reflected in its idealism is selfishness, and is unAmerican.  

We Can't Permit This 

I'm completely committed to constitutional protections of the freedom of conscience, which includes religious liberty, and to free speech.  But there is that point which we often discuss, at least theoretically, about whether constitutionally protected free speech covers someone yelling "fire" in a crowded theater.  When the life, liberty and happiness of others are threatened by the potential results of collective bigotry, those threats are not protected free speech.  

I can't begin to describe the kind of feelings I had when I read the linked article, and had to consider the fact that some Americans, because of their religious beliefs, feel compelled to make drastic changes in their life because they sense imminent danger from an oppressive evil that is most definitely interfering with their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Did we not learn anything from what we saw happen in Europe during the Holocaust?  It's an absolute tragedy that we have to even consider this, and now that we see it, what are we going to do about it?  

I'm still convinced that our best weapon against this kind of thing is the ballot box.  And we've been warning people for decades that apathy, and failing to show up to cast a ballot may one day result in us losing the power that our founding fathers, in the Declaration of Independence, claimed is derived from the will of the people, or popular sovereignty.  We can easily identify the source of the racism against African Americans, Latinos, Asians, and other ethnic and racial groups, and against Jews, Muslims and other religious groups.  Protecting idealism sometimes takes a priority over voting to favor a political position.  

Michael Moore advised Democrats to become more active in the local branches of their party.  That's another way to fight against this evil.  Our local branch of the party did a lot of good in the midterms, not only making sure people turned out to vote in our precincts in this state, but crossed the border into Wisconsin to help Democratic candidates there get out their vote.  That effort was, at least in part, successful.  

Awareness, and calling this stuff out in every possible forum, is also a way to put a stop to it.  Bullies back down when someone stands up to them, calls their bluff and confronts their evil.  These people who are being threatened are fellow Americans.  Let's show up for them.  A good place to start is at school board meetings which are becoming forums for the promotion of American ideals against attempts to remove books from library shelves and ideas from textbooks.  Anti-Semitism has some strongholds there.  Then move on to the city council.  All of those places are important.

No American should ever feel threatened in their own country to the point where they feel they must start to plan to flee in order to avoid danger, because they are of a different race, ethnicity or religious belief.