Editor,
This is a great country. I have served it in uniform in Iraq and hope to serve it in public office someday. I am deeply concerned, however, with the level of discourse that we have seen during this campaign. To be frank, I am concerned with the number of times I have heard the word Muslim. What role does it play in this presidential race? It is like a nervous tic that pops out suddenly, like a hiccup in our public dialogue.
First of all, there is nothing wrong with being Muslim. My heart goes out to American Muslims who have had to endure hearing Barack Obama called a Muslim as though it were a bad thing. Second, it is plainly untrue. Furthermore, the assertion that Obama is a Muslim is something that should be found scratched into the wall of a public restroom, not on the lips of senior members of our political parties. We should not have to hear about it on the news.
New Mexico was recently embarrassed - for the second time during this campaign - by the comments of Marcia Stirman, chairwoman of the Republican Women of Otero County. She is not of any real standing in the political arena, but she should be shamed nonetheless for singing the horrible refrain that we keep hearing. Parties aside, we need to stop this.
Justin Thompson
UNM student
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