I Really Hate Politics, But….

As Salaamu Alaikum – Peace be upon you – and hello all.

I have mostly remained silent here on my blog about the political circus that is revolving around us.  First of all, I would like to reassure all the other countries in the world that the United States is totally not a country full of loonies and everything is going to be okay.  I’d like to do that, but I can’t.  Sadly, it appears that we have a fairly large percentage of loonies and they have a somewhat reasonable chance of propelling one of their Loonies in Chief all the way to the White House.  I apologize in advance.

I read a meme-thingy that came across my Facebook page.  It purported to be the words of a Holocaust survivor and said something like, ten percent of people will be merciful all the time, ten percent of people will be evil all the time, and that leaves eighty percent who can be swayed one way or the other.

I really, really believe that is fairly accurate.  There are a lot of unsophisticated people out there (often called low-information voters) who would go along with a completely reasonable candidate if that was all that was available.  But they are vulnerable to demagogues because they allow themselves to be lead by their emotions and prejudices.  Most of the candidates are the types who exploit that and so we have an election cycle characterized by personal attacks and the inciting of hatred.

In order to try to counter that, I am supporting Bernie Sanders.  I think he’s really a Good Guy.  I would probably like him personally if I met him.  I also believe he has been consistent over his entire life and has not waffled on issues he believes in.  Is he perfect? No.  Do we agree on everything?  No.  Heck, my husband and I don’t agree on everything.  Next time he puts the toilet paper on the roll backwards there are going to be words.  But that’s neither here nor there.  I support Bernie Sanders because I feel he is the best choice of those running for president at this time.

As a Muslim, my idea of a perfect world would be Islamic law correctly instituted according to the Qur’an and Sunnah.  There, I’ve said it.  A lot of Muslims are afraid to say this out loud because they will be viewed as radical fundamentalists.  But a true Muslim has to believe that Allah’s Law is the only truly correct way to live in this world.  To accept that man-made laws are superior to the Islamic Shariah is tantamount to denying Islam.

Ahhh!  Run!  Call Homeland Security!  We have a fundie in our midst!  Now hold on to your camouflage-colored dungarees!  Listen, I’m a realist.  I know that even counties that claim to be ruling according to Islam fall far short in that regard.  And me living here in a secular – yes, secular – country, well, I have no right to expect an Islamic government or to try to impose one.  And that’s okay by me.

I strive to institute Islam in my daily life as much as I can, and I eagerly and probably overly share my love of Islam with anyone who will listen or who is stuck in queue with me somewhere and makes the mistake of asking “Are you hot in that?”. I know that I live in an oligarchy and the best I can do as far as “imposing” Islam is to be a good role model of what a Muslim is and to offer correct information on Islam where needed.  And I can also support legislation that is Islamic in spirit, such as universal health insurance, a living minimum wage, laws against wasting “unattractive” produce, etc.  Little old me, with exactly one vote.

For the stuff I can’t affect, the stuff that goes totally against my religion, I still only have exactly one vote.  If I vote against something that troubles me and the bill passes, well, I’ve done what I can do.  I can try to get a law repealed or changed, but I can’t go out and Islamicize the country so that it reflects my beliefs.

Maybe someone could forward this blog post to some of the fundamentalist Christians out there who forget we are not a theocracy.  Because to my mind they are working harder than any Muslim in the U.S. to turn this country in to one.

I don’t plan to write a lot about the election.  There is so much media attention on it that anything I write would be superfluous. But if I think of something interesting I may share it, and if I come across a good one-liner you’ll see it either here or over on my Facebook page.

So that’s it for politics.  I’ll get back to writing about Islam tomorrow.