There's a really good illustration of precisely these dynamics in the "Cordova Center" controversy at Ground Zero.... Moreover this controversy shows that enemies of our law use our law to advance their interests/designs. The "logic" here, to me, is that the proposed mosque must be built at Ground Zero, for the same reason that the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem HAD to be built on the Temple Mount, on the very footprint of the destroyed Solomon's Temple. Al-Aqsa is a monument to the victory of Islam over the West, which is to say the Judeo-Christian tradition. As I believe the Cordova Center would be also, assuming it is built.
Perhaps only Muslims understand this "logic."
Then again, your "average people" seem to get the message, as the polls are showing opposition to building the mosque at Ground Zero at around 70%. Unfortunately, the political class in NYC is blinded by their doctrinaire assumptions about "peace" and "tolerance" and "building understanding among peoples," yada yada yada. All of which assumes that The Other Side is also engaged in good-faith concern about such matters, that this is their motive for building.
The political class simply has no right to assume this. The "average people" know better, and are increasingly frustrated by the arrogance, unaccountability, and irrationality of the political class....
Thank you for your wonderful observations, dear Amos! Certainly the commitment to civility and honesty in one's dealings gives an advantage to an adversary who does not consider himself bound by these rules. A Muslim can lie to an unbeliever with impunity; Allah does not at all object to this. Indeed, lying is often necessary in order to advance the global interests of Allah.... The end justifies the means....
I suppose the underlying principle to my thesis is that it is vital to pick one’s enemies carefully. Once selected, however, there ought be no destraction from the business of absolute destruction of their ability to continue their policies.
Conservatives have been silent when falsely accused of the very sins fostered by progressives, communists, Muslims and other derelicts. When we are called racist it is absolutely certainly that a racist is using the euphemism.
Obama’s use of the vulgarism teabagger is a case in point. He is, after all, by many accounts, himself a teabagger of some notoriety. This from one who has claimed personal knowledge of teabagging.
(I trust I am not in trouble with the monitors for the use of such language.)
I might add there is some dispute among the experts as to where the second Temple was actually located in reference to the Dome of the Rock. That might come into play if they try to make Jerusalem an international city and permit the Temple to be rebuilt. If so, then ...
Maranatha, Jesus!!!