The persistent extremism of the right

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out ”“ Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out ”“ Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out ”“ Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me ”“ and there was no one left to speak for me. ”“ Martin Niemöller, January 6, 1946

Deal or no deal?

Until two hours ago, the Reverend Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida insisted that he and his parishioners would burn The Qur’an on Saturday, September 11th. By the time this article appears in print, the ninth anniversary of the September 11th tragedies will have passed and the incident may or may not have happened. The Vatican, President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, General David Petraeus, and even Sarah Palin have condemned this stunt. The Reverend’s right to commit this is unquestioned; the First Amendment to our Constitution guarantees this freedom. The repercussions, however, seem to have escaped this not-so-holy man.

In the 1960s, burning an American flag was a form of protest. Burning effigies of Lyndon Johnson and Lt. General Lewis B. Hershey, the man in charge of conscripted men, was common. Burning a draft card was even more profligate; it was easier and every male 18-or-older had one in his wallet, next to that unused condom. Wondering where and how George W. Bush was hiding to avoid service wasn’t on anyone’s mind yet; that had to wait until 2004. Protests occurred on campuses from Berkeley to Columbia and eventually helped change the minds of the country and the politicians. It cost over 50,000 American lives before people understood that the Vietnam Conflict was unjust. Like Iraq, no one has ever codified how many innocents were killed for the folly that began with Dwight Eisenhower’s sending “advisors” to Vietnam in 1954.

Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon escalated involvement. Nixon increased the troop level to over 500,000, declared victory at Henry Kissinger’s insistence, and pulled troops out. No one from that era can forget the images of helicopters leaving the rooftop of the American embassy in Saigon with hundreds of Vietnamese allies pleading to be taken. With their arms outstretched, they knew that with the U.S. withdrawal they faced certain execution. The murder of thousands of Vietnamese was the precedent for George Herbert Walker Bush’s abandoning our allies, the Kurds, after the 1991 defeat of Saddam Hussein. Over 300,000 dead should weigh on the soul of President 41.

Why the diatribe and history lesson? Simple. History is complex and Republican revisionism should not be allowed to distort facts. It wasn’t until Petraeus, Obama, Clinton, and other Democrats publicly, loudly, and forcibly responded to the Reverend Jones’s intention to burn The Qur’an that Sarah Palin Twittered, that’s right Twittered, her disapproval days later. As of this writing, Maine’s Senators Collins and Snowe have remained silent. They should be ashamed.

Kristallnacht, the Night of the Broken Glass, was a coordinated attack on Jews in Germany, Austria, and Sudetenland. Jews were killed or herded into concentration camps, their homes looted, property confiscated, and their books burned (Wikipedia.com). This led to the imprisonment of Martin Niemöller, a Protestant minister, from 1937 to 1945. His guilt for not having done more to stop the Final Solution, the genocide of his Jewish neighbors, generated his famous quotation. The parallels and ramifications of Reverend Jones’ intentions are horrifyingly similar.

Paper burns at 451 degrees Fahrenheit, thus the title of Ray Bradbury’s 1953 book. Bradbury’s futuristic world has its citizenry in a state of perpetual control and planned ignorance, situations foreshadowing the Reverend’s probable act.

The Reverend Jones admits that he has not read The Qur’an. The Reverend Jones doesn’t know that The Qur’an acknowledges belief in Jesus, called ”˜Isa,’ (4:159) and Christ’s covenant with God, called ”˜Allah’ (33:7) because he hasn’t read it. Reverend Jones calls all Muslims terrorists, a blanket condemnation of Islam. His words have already led to an increase in violence in both Iraq and Afghanistan, thus General Petraeus’ concern for his troops and the civilian population. Reverend Jones believes that the burning of The Qur’an will be an act of protest and retaliation. This action is, in reality, a hate crime and an act of terrorism. Those who support this, overtly and subtly, are complicit and should be prosecuted.

Republican Minority Leader John Boehner is one of those. He has tied the burning of The Qur’an with the building of a mosque in New York City; of course, they are separate issues. Like Reverend Jones, Congressman Boehner is advocating the desecration of a holy book, an action granted by the Constitution but lacking in understanding or wisdom. Both are waiting for God to speak to them. In normal circumstances help is provided for people with delusions.

The Reverend Jones is receiving support from the Republican establishment and, at this point, it doesn’t matter if he goes through with the desecration; damage to America has already been done. Uber-Conservative Barry Goldwater said, Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Extremism hasn’t changed for Republicans; they remain the Radical Right, the Tea Party. Canceled or suspended, Republicans were wrong about liberty in 1964 and Republicans, epitomized by the radicalism of Reverend Terry Jones, John Boehner, and Rush Limbaugh, remain wrong today.

Sign In: