Finding Ulysses

Go to the Federal Election Commission web site and you’ll see that, although Trumansburg has a strong Democratic Party presence, and is more affluent than most of the 24th congressional district, only two people in our entire village have made donations to the re-election campaign of Democratic U.S. Representative Michael Arcuri. A news release from the Arcuri campaign reminds us why that’s the case.

Congressman Arcuri has announced that he supports Sarah Palin’s crusade to block the construction of a Muslim community center and mosque in lower Manhattan. Why would Arcuri do such a thing? Manhattan isn’t in our congressional district, after all.

Mike Arcuri says he’s using his power as a member of the House of Representatives to support the anti-mosque campaign because of his support for “victims’ rights”. If Arcuri had stopped to think for a moment, he might have remembered that Muslims like Mohammad Chowdhury were among the people in the Word Trade Center when it was hit on September 11, 2001. Muslims like Rahma Salie were among the innocent people who were on the hijacked planes that hit the towers. Muslims like police cadet Salman Hamdani were among the people who were killed when they rushed to the Twin Towers to help rescue as many people as possible.

Given that followers of Islam were among the victims of September 11, 2001, how on earth can Congressman Arcuri think that he’s defending “victims’ rights” by banning the free practice of Islam in Manhattan? Arcuri is actually opposing victims’ rights on this issue.

The very first words of the very first amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America read, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. Yet, here Representative Arcuri is, using his power as a member of Congress to attempt the free exercise of religion.

Mike Arcuri’s solidarity with Sarah Palin’s hateful anti-Islam purge isn’t merely constitutionally indefensible. It’s also politically incompetent. Just days before Arcuri announced that he is opposed to the free practice of Islam in New York State, his Republican opponent, Richard Hanna, announced that he would never join in such an attack on religious freedom, because he respected the founding principles of the USA too much.

Hanna took the mosque issue out of play. Arcuri didn’t have to play the anti-Muslim hate card. He did it because he wanted to, or because he just plain wasn’t smart enough to understand that encouraging fear against Islam would bring him no competitive advantage.

Either way, Arcuri has shown with the mosque issue that he is profoundly unqualified to represent us in Washington D.C. For years, Democrats have been making excuses for Blue Dog Arcuri. I don’t see how any decent, freedom-loving Trumansburg Democrat can now continue to support the Arcuri re-election campaign, when Arcuri has joined the Glenn Becks and Rush Limbaughs in their hateful anti-Muslim crusade.

If you were at the Trumansburg Public Schools playground construction site, you would have seen a Muslim among the volunteers. She stood out in the dust and the hot sun, working hard so that all of our children could have a place to come together to play. She’s no terrorist. She’s a good citizen.

Congressman Michael Arcuri spits at her contributions, and at the contributions of all the other Muslims that live in our congressional district. If you vote to re-elect Arcuri to Congress, you will be repeating that insult.