Todd M. Siebert: Of course we don’t want a Muslim as president

Good for Ben Carson! He’s not backing down an inch over his comments about not wanting to see a Muslim as president of this country — unless that person were willing to put the U.S. Constitution above Islam’s Sharia law.

Ladies and gentlemen, no matter what the mainstream media tries to tell you, this is exactly what our Constitution says.

The whole brouhaha got started last Sunday, when Carson gave this reply on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” to a question about a Muslim being elected president: “I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that.”

The famed neurosurgeon and Republican presidential candidate on Monday made this important clarification on Fox News’ “Hannity”:

Now, if someone has a Muslim background, and they’re willing to reject those tenets and to accept the way of life that we have, and clearly will swear to place our Constitution above their religion, then of course they will be considered infidels and heretics, but at least I would then be quite willing to support them.

How on Earth can anyone argue with that? As I said, this is precisely what our Constitution requires. Here’s how it’s put in the relevant section of Article VI:

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

Please note a couple of really important things about what our Constitution actually says.

First, the Founding Fathers wanted to make sure that every public official in the United States promised to support the Constitution of the United States. Notice how wide a net they cast: every Senator and Representative; all members of every State Legislature; and all executive and judicial officials, both of the federal government and the various states, were included in this requirement.

Second, so long as the official did take such an oath or affirmation, no other religious test could be applied.

In other words, it didn’t matter what faith you professed — or even if you professed no faith at all — as long as you promised to “protect and defend” the Constitution of the United States.

This is exactly what Carson said. And he repeated the point at a subsequent press conference: “I said I would support anyone regardless of their background if in fact they embrace American values and our Constitution.”

Nevertheless, a bunch of Democrats jumped on the controversy as a way to start bashing the Republican candidate — and get some publicity for themselves. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which is one of the more extreme self-appointed defenders of Islam in this country, went even further. The group demanded that Carson quit the presidential race because of his remarks.

All of this is patently absurd. Carson not only did not do anything wrong. He was, in fact, 100 percent correct in the way he applied what the Constitution requires to the current controversy.

But he has certainly fallen afoul of the politically correct crowd, as the candidate himself acknowledges. He says it’s time to “stop trying to fit everything into a PC model.”

You and I may agree with him. But that won’t be enough to deter the ideological zealots of the left — whether they’re running for office or dominating the mainstream media.

Let’s hope a majority of Americans will see through their dishonesty and hypocrisy.

And rather than just hope, let’s help them do so.

Until next time, keep some powder dry.

–Chip Wood

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from PropagandaGuard https://propagandaguard.wordpress.com/2015/09/24/of-course-we-dont-want-a-muslim-as-president/