The NYC Mosque...

You know, I wonder why I am writing this blog. No one follows it - as best I can tell, no one has ever read it. I am not feeling the love... OK, enough whining...

I have decided to wade into the mosque debate. I have been listening closely to both sides, and have come to some conclusions...

I can understand why people are upset about the idea of a mosque being built near ground zero. There is most likely some political exploitation that is going on, but there is also a lot of legitimate rage. In a lot of ways, this is no different from a group wanting to erect a Shinto shrine near Pearl Harbor in the years after the attack there. There would be a legitimate reason for it - there is a significant population of people of Japanese descent there. My own connection is the fire service - my brothers died there.

Here is where I stray from my feelings, though. Those same people that are calling for the mosque to not be built should be scared to death of the idea of the state preventing its construction for any reason. If the state - NY or federal - exercises power to block the construction of that mosque, they will create a precedent that would allow them to block other structures. We are already seeing persecution of Christians in this nation - what's next, a Catholic church? A Christian house of worship? Where does it stop?

Out founders envisioned a country with a small, even weak federal government. They wanted most of the power to create laws and regulate things to be at the state level. We have strayed far, far from that - that is a scary thought.

That's about all I have for tonight... Two more days and I get to go home...