Editor Matt Christensen [ 208-735-3255 • mchristensen@magicvalley.com ]
• Sunday, September 27, 2015
OUR VIEW
OPINION
“For it to filter up to that level and for them to decide to send out a policy letter means that they felt there was something they needed to tamp down on.” — Patrick Mason, the Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University in California, after the Mormon Church issued a statement cautioning the faithful to not get caught up in speculation about an impending apocalypse.
Double Suicide: the Presidential Campaign of 2015
M
eanwhile, on the Democrats’ side: – They are running a presidential campaign decrying wage stagnation, income inequality and widespread economic malaise — as if they’ve not been in office for the past seven years. – Their leading presidential candidate is 27 points underwater on the question of honesty and is under FBI investigation for possible mishandling of classified information. – Her chief challenger is a 74-year-old socialist with a near-spotless record of invisibility in 25 years in Congress. The other three candidates can hardly be found at all. – The only plausible alternative challenger, Joe Biden, has run and failed twice and, before tragedy struck (to which he has responded, one must say, with admirable restraint and courage), was for years a running national joke for his endless gaucheries and verbal pratfalls. For the GOP, this has all been a godsend, an opportunity to amplify the case being made every day by the Democrats themselves against their own stewardship. Instead, the Republicans spent the summer attacking each other — the festival of ad hominems interrupted only by spectacular attempts to alienate major parts of the citizenry. The latest example is Ben Carson, the mild-mannered, highly personable neurosurgeon and one of two highestpolling GOP candidates. He said on Sunday that a Muslim should not be president of the United States. His reason is that Islam is incompatible with the Constitution. On the contrary. Carson is incompatible with a Constitution that explicitly commands that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” Ever. And it is no defense of Carson to say that he was not calling for legal disqualification of Muslims, just advocating that one should not vote for them. But that defense misses the point: The Constitution is not just a legal document. It is a didactic one. It doesn’t just set limits to power; it expresses a national ethos. It doesn’t just tell you what you’re not allowed to do; it also suggests what you
Charles Krauthammer Washington Post
shouldn’t want to do. The First Amendment allows you to express whatever opinion you want — even, say, advocating the suppression of free speech in others. But a major purpose of the Constitution is to discourage and delegitimize such authoritarian thinking. Carson later backtracked, saying that he meant opposing someone not because of his identity, ethnicity or faith but because of his ideology — meaning that he wouldn’t want in the White House an Islamist who seeks to impose Shariah law. Neither would I. Unfortunately, that’s not what Carson had said. In the original interview, he said, “I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation.” It would not have been hard to attach any of the appropriate restrictive adjectives — radical, extreme, Islamist — to the word “Muslim.” He didn’t. Indeed, Carson gave the correct answer minutes later when he said he wouldn’t apply his presidential religious test to congressional candidates. In that case, “it depends on who that Muslim is and what their policies are.” Which is, of course, the right answer, the American answer, the only possible answer to the same question about a candidate for the presidency. Carson is not one to cynically pander. Nor do I doubt that his statement about a Muslim president was sincerely felt. But it remains morally outrageous. And, in a general election, politically poisonous. It is certainly damaging to any party when one of its two front-runners denigrates, however thoughtlessly, the nation’s entire Muslim American community. Particularly when it follows the yeoman work done by the other leading GOP candidate to alienate other large chunks of the citizenry. Three minutes into his campaign, Donald Trump called Mexican-American immigrants rapists who come bringing drugs and crime. He followed that by advocating the deportation of 11 million illegal immigrants. And sealed the deal by chastising Jeb Please see KRAUTHAMMER, C2
DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS
Audience members listen to group of panelists speak about refugees and the center that helps them at the College of Southern Idaho Tuesday evening, Sep 22, 2015, in Twin Falls.
Religion is the Last Ugly Defense for Refugee Opponents T he Times-News held a forum Tuesday night on the refugee program at the College of Southern Idaho in the hopes of answering any and all lingering questions. Here’s what the community learned: Refugees are not siphoning off tax dollars. They’re paying into the tax pool. In a single year, a refugee pays more in federal taxes than he receives in one-time assistance through the refugee program. Refugees are hardly a strain on the schools. Services for them account for just 0.43 percent of the school district’s $45 million budget.Yet they’re model students, with exceptionally high graduation rates. They’re not causing trouble. Police say the crime rate for refugees is so low, it’s statistically insignificant. They’re not jeopardizing the community’s health. In fact, refugees must pass several rigorous health screenings before they’re resettled, and they continue to receive health care once they arrive. They’re helping grow the economy. Refugees, on average, make more than a dollar more than the state’s minimum wage, contributing positively to a growing labor force and economy. They become U.S. citizens. Refugees pass the same citizenship test as other immigrants, in English. CSI isn’t financing the program. To be sure, the college actually makes money in administrative fees and rent from the program, which helps drive
down tuition and makes college more affordable and accessible for all students in the Magic Valley. The screening process has become more thorough. Refugees go through multiple rounds of screening, including on-the-ground interviews with U.S. intelligence officials, over the course of years, before they’re allowed into the country. Nothing in life is without risk, but after 9/11, we didn’t stop flying planes; we stepped up security measures and there hasn’t been a planebased terrorist attack since. U.S. officials are taking the same measured approach by bolstering security screenings for refugees. These aren’t opinions or anecdotes – they’re indisputable facts backed by hard numbers. So why is a small minority still opposed to the refugee program in the Magic Valley? It’s all about religion, and it’s giving the Magic Valley a bad name. Blogs and books and dozens of letters to the editor, public testimony at CSI board meetings and speeches at opposition gatherings all point to one conclusion: Hatred for Muslims is at the core of the opposition to the refugee center. Islam isn’t compatible with the Constitution, opposition leaders like to say. True, and neither is Christianity, Judaism or any other religion. Christians oppose abortion, but the Supreme Court has said abortion is legal under the Constitution. Jews don’t eat pork, but it’s sold at every grocery store in
Twin Falls. The beauty of the Constitution, and our system of laws that stem from it, lies in its inability to be corrupted by any religion, even Sharia law. At the forum, the biggest applause line of the night came in response to a question about the religious breakdown of refugees. “This nation doesn’t discriminate against religion,” the panelist said. Yet faced with the facts about the refugee program, religious discrimination is the only leg opposition groups have left to stand on, and it’s an ugly one. The Southern Poverty Law Center featured Twin Falls last week in its Hatewatch report. Local leaders have been interviewed by the New York Times about the fear mongering. Business leaders have openly worried that the mounting hate-speak will scare away new companies looking to invest in the Magic Valley. The debate about facts is over. And now we must act. City and county leaders should immediately draft and pass resolutions expressing their support for the refugee program, proclaiming our community a welcoming place for all people and religions. The fight over the refugee center has now shifted well beyond its original scope, and in a way it has us looking inward. This is no longer a battle over how many refugees might resettle in Twin Falls – it’s about who we are as residents, as people. And we simply cannot allow hate to prevail.
READER COMMENT
More Must be Involved in Twin Falls Growth Discussions Twin Falls faces incredible growth challenges not experienced in its 111 years. Founded on water diverted from the mighty Snake, our oasis is history’s most successful U.S. reclamation project. Today’s agricultural/ urban mecca regularly attracts a quarter million shoppers, plus waves of families seeking jobs and better lives. Our current growth spurt requires three new schools, as the city assists Glanbia,
Chobani and Clif Bar to create hundreds of upscale jobs, with CSI’s training expertise. The upcoming rebuild of the 1960s Main Street coincides with the first new City Hall in 72 years, and new water storage parallels expansion of the waste treatment plant to handle a town of 70,000. When the population reaches 50,000 residents in two years, a public bus system will stamp Twin Falls as a mini-metropolis. But new businesses, more cars and plastic signs shouldn’t displace our Western lifestyle. The choice isn’t between income-boosting development versus economic
stagnation. It’s possible to encourage growth that values schools, parks, Talkington libraries and homes, expands our unique canyon trail and prioritizes a safe Twin Falls. The local real estate market has seldom been as strong, but incomes must rise to allow more people to purchase homes. Focusing on the 2030 citizen-developed Strategic Plan will allow us to maintain frugal budgets, while keeping our city workforce lean and adequately compensated.
And protecting our water rights against a backward-looking Boise bureaucracy intent on penalizing local conservation efforts is a battle worth fighting. I’m optimistic our town won’t grow too big for its britches, but more people must be involved in growth decisions. Only one out of five eligible residents will vote in the Nov. 3rd City Council election. If you’re one of those who takes the initiative, I invite your ideas on balancing growth with preservation of our community’s quality of life.
Chris Talkington is a councilman in the city of Twin Falls.