Huddled Masses, Yearning to Breathe Free?

By now you know if you care. The Muslim fanatics shooting up Paris and threatening other parts of Europe are headquartered in Belgium. You probably do not know why, nor do I for that matter, at least not completely. I do, however, have some information that bears on the question.

Years ago, my then future son-in-law was an LDS (Mormon) missionary assigned to Belgium. His knowledge of the country included an awareness that there were some places controlled, not by the Belgian government, but by Islamic fanatics. It was not safe to enter those areas. The Belgians, like some others in Europe, not only welcomed Muslims into their country, they made two mistakes with that welcome.

First, they were completely non-selective about which Muslims they allowed in.

Second, they allowed those immigrants to set up neighborhoods which the immigrants ruled, outside normal law.

As a result, Europe now has islands of Islamic law, places where fanatics can recruit, train, plan, and launch their attacks on what they regard as violations of God's law. (Remember, Allah is just the Arabic word for God.) Paris paid the price for that mistake.

How does this affect the United States? Are we following behind the Europeans, making the same mistakes and not learning from what has happened there? I fear that we are. Clearly, we are not yet anywhere near their situation, but support of unlimited immigration and acceptance of all refugees threatens to move us in that direction.

Most immigrants and refugees from the Islamic world will probably support our way of life. That is great, but it was not “most” Muslims in Belgium who shot up Paris. We must be concerned with the fanatic minority, those who want to force their beliefs on the rest of us. Unlimited acceptance of people from that part of the world will allow such fanatics free access to our country.

President Obama and others make a big deal about their idea of American values requiring us to accept everybody. That is not an American value, it is stupidity. With that stupidity, some refer to Emma Lazarus' poem, “The New Colossus,” found on the base of the Statue of Liberty, claiming that it requires us to accept all refugees. In that they make two mistakes. First, the poem has no legal authority. It is a good poem but we are not at all bound by its ideas. Second and even worse, they ignore the line "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

Yearning to breathe free? Freedom is just about the last thing those fanatics want. They want to force their ideas on the world. Draw a picture of Mohammad or do anything else they regard as offensive? Better protect yourself, they regard that as worthy of death. Freedom of speech or the press is not in their vocabulary. What if you happen to have been born to a Muslim family but decide some other religion, or no religion, is better? Again a capital offense, leaving Islam is forbidden. If they had their way, women would all wear burkas, and fathers would murder daughters (they call it “honor killing”) who do not strictly adhere to their restrictions.

We must not allow that in our country. That means we must insist that all immigrants commit to follow our free way of life. Any who promise to do so and renege must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Any who try to institute Sharia law here must be imprisoned. Living here should require obedience to our law and support of freedom.