The GOP and Me

The blogger Rany, who normally writes about his strained relations with his former hometown baseball team, the Kansas City Royals, took time out to describe in detail why Muslims in the U.S., who used to be overwhelming Republicans, are now overwhelmingly Democrats. Muslims, although their extreme fundamentalists are an aberration, still tend to be conservative. What gives? The short answer is intolerance:

[W]hen the PATRIOT Act was signed into law, Muslims were taken aback by the far-reaching implications. Citizens could have their phones or computers tapped with neither their knowledge nor any recourse. Muslims in Indiana found themselves on the No-Fly List because they had the misfortune of sharing the same name with a terrorist suspect in India - and there was essentially no way to clear their name from the list. Thousands of Muslims, many of whom had lived and worked in America for decades, were arrested on flimsy immigration violations and deported back to their countries of birth.

Rany goes on to describe one insult after another, one injustice after another. Republicans are in disarray right now trying to figure out what they did wrong. (They have a lot of theories, such as the electorate is stupid and disappointed them; I'll post on that soon when I can collect them.) One crazy ass thing the Republicans might try is not being intolerant of those who do not have purely European ancestry. Just shooting in the dark here. It is sad, though, when those who are rejected by a group still hang on to the group, as American Muslims did so long with the Republicans. Via Meta Filter.