Ponderingmind

I’m not sure why I am getting so worked up about this issue.   Maybe it’s because of the supposed separation of church and state in America.  Actually, though, I think it’s because of politician’s desire to feed intolerance in order to garner more votes.  The New York Times is running an article today about how some Republican Congressional candidates (and some Democrats) are positioning themselves in opposition to the Islamic center (called Park 51) being proposed in downtown New York.

This seems to be the same old tactic of playing fear politics.  The politician’s role, apparently, is not to play to people’s better natures, leading the way in demonstrating how to live by the principles on which the country was founded.  Instead, his or her role is to fester divide in an already divided country, to play to the basest of human needs (security) and argue that those needs are being undermined by propagating a common misconception about a part of the population they don’t feel they need votes from.

Why is this considered good politics?  Why fester dissent and ignorance?  I understand that the easiest way to power is to construct an all-powerful and fearful “other” that you can rile the populace into a frenzy over, then convince them that you have the answer on how to defeat them.  But that’s the easiest way.  It doesn’t lead to an enlightened public, to a public that can engage in the process of government.  It leads to a military state, and has more in common with a dictatorship than a democracy.  Why would current-day politicians in what should be a leading (not fear-mongering) democracy want to walk down this line?  I welcome your thoughts.