Vigilant or Vigilante

Submitted by conoutofconsumer (United States), Nov 3, 2008 at 07:02

Where does this leave things if and when Obama is elected, which appears likely? Concerns about "extremist" connections are an opportunity for people to remain vigilant in our expectations of our executive's conduct for certain, but this heightened emotion starts to appear alarmist and, almost extreme.

You seem to want to sketch Obama as ... who has duped the American people and will expand extreme Islam within the US which does not seem likely. The only thing that really comes across here is that you prefer John McCain to Obama, which of course is your choice. The other thing that comes across is that Obama has connected with many "thinkers", including the anti semites employed at some of our most prestigious colleges. Will this stop Jewish enrollment in these schools that employ such "characters"? It has not yet. Has there been a withdrawal of Jewish dollars for tuition to these schools in protest? Not hardly. So you are angry that Obama has relationships with people who are employed by institutions and are helped to be supported by Jewish dollars? It's curious. The time for protest is when these schools thumb their noses at US values and Jewish students by employing "experts" who are so blatantly anti-Semitic.

The same with charities. Our government has stopped some of the shell charities but not all. Like a patient who relies on a government decision that a certain medication is safe, citizen reliance on the legitimacy of a charity allowed to function under our government, cannot then render the citizen responsible for the illegitimacy of such charity.

Truth be told, you don't like the legitimate circles that Obama has frequented, and I may very well agree with you on that. I didn't like the legitimate circles of President Bush, his photo ops with the Saudis, his business ties with the bin Laden's, his adherence to "Christian" doctrine that encouraged him to support a constitutional amendment prohibiting gays from marrying, his "work" with health insurance companies and their lobbyists so that those companies could continue to brutalize the American people through squeezing out the sick, the old, the infirm from being able to obtain affordable medical care in our country.

As vigilant US citizens, we can question our executive's allegiances to certain groups, which for me also includes John McCain and his "warrior" mentality which promises to continue to fund companies that profit in wartime such as Halliburton. But escalating the conversation into some barely veiled warning that a particular person is an Islamic extremist invites vigilantism and is counter productive on every level.

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