Monday, November 03, 2008

Heaven forbid a Muslim in the White House!

This has been something that his tickled me for weeks now. I have had several people recently ask me, "Aren't you worried about the possibility of having a Muslim in the White House?" Usually my first response is, "Huh?", as I hadn't realized that John McCain was Muslim! Who knew? But seriously, I am always floored at this question for several reasons. One, it is completely unsubstantiated. Two, I thought our country had a separation of church and state within the government, so who gives a rat's ass about a candidate's spiritual beliefs? And third, I have yet to find anything in the Constitution that states ONLY white, Christian, Protestant males are allowed to be President. I mean I wasn't around yet, but I seem to remember people even having issue with JFK being Catholic, which is weird, cause isn't Catholicism still a form of Christianity?

I just find it odd that this country toots it's own horn, stating that it is the "melting pot" where people can come and pursue their dreams without fear of persecution! We send the message to our school children, which are from all different and diverse cultures and backgrounds, that they can aspire to be anything, even PRESIDENT! What a bunch of bogus crap! What we really mean is, "You can aspire to be anything, even PRESIDENT (IF you're male, white, Protestant, come from a background of wealth and prominence, have been in the armed forces and are 100% heterosexual)". All of you kids of Latin, Asian, Middle-Eastern, African-American, or NATIVE American background, we are totally just blowing smoke up your asses! And if you're Catholic, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Athiest, Agnostic or any other deviant form of religion, you're freakin' high! OK, it's sad, but it's true.

At some point we are going to have to realize that we are not a nation solely of white, Christians anymore. Thanks to our beautiful Statue of Liberty, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, the tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.", we have one of the most diverse populations on the planet! It's like we have a little bit of every part of the world in one country, isn't that so cool? But now we need to put our money where our mouth is. Are we really that giant melting pot? Are we truly the land of opportunity? Someday, a woman with Asian ancestry who practices Buddhism is going to throw her name in the hat, will we be able to see past her personal, spiritual choices and her ethnicity and be able to judge her strictly based on her policies and what she could offer our country? I certainly hope so.

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