An Exercise In Pattern Recognition

Doug J at Balloon Juice argues that the similarities between Cordoba House and the Prop 8 ruling, that is "Democrats defending an unpopular minority through the Constitution", is part of a much larger pattern.

Reflecting on the twin horrors of gay marriage and the wholesale destruction of a Burlington Coat Factory outlet in lower Manhattan, I see a lot of similarity between the two issues. Frum Forum makes the point that all Obama said last night is that that “our laws grant people the right to do what they please with their own property….One’s rights don’t evaporate upon the majority taking offense”.

That extends to Arizona's  SB1070 law as well.  Republicans want to take rights away from people and only let the majority have them in a mob mentality government.  Democrats want to extend, protect, and guarantee rights to all Americans, including the unpopular minorities.

To paraphrase Raymond Chandler, it is not funny that someone should be dehumanized, but it is sometimes funny that he should be dehumanized over so little, and that his dehumanization should be the coin of what we call civilization.

Dehumanization is the currency of the Republican Party.  Latinos, gays and Muslims are the Others.  They're not Real Americans.  Their rights must be curtailed through the will of the majority because they are unpopular.  Republicans want to apply the Constitution through Rasmussen polls.  Only the approved religions get to build here.  Only the approved relationships count as marriage.  Only the approved people born here count as citizens.

Everybody at some point is a minority in some way, shape, or belief, folks.  What happens when the Tyranny of the Majority tries to take that away from you?  This is not a government by mob rule.  It's not administrated through Facebook posts or Sunday show rants or op-ed columns.  It's a government by Constitution where your rights are guaranteed even if you are an unpopular minority, and especially if you are an unpopular minority.

History will remember which party made the tough calls to stand up for these minorities for their rights, and which party tried to profit politically off of nothing but fear of and hatred for an unpopular minority.  You do have a clear choice in 2010 at the polls:  expanding rights to include all or limiting them to just the majority.

Is that what Americans should be all about?  Too many times in our darker parts of history the answer was yes.  We come around eventually, but it takes time.  It also takes people recognizing that hatred for what it is, the most base, cynical form of emotional manipulation, and resisting it.