Welcome to North Dakota/yup, I'm talking about the mosque, kind of

I moved to North Dakota two and a half weeks ago. The change has been interesting. For the most part I knew what I was getting in to. I grew up just east of Grand Forks, N.D. and I knew the state was full of small towns, Wal-Marts and Republicans. (even though all officials elected to federal office are Democrats... go figure!)

What I wasn't expecting was this brash conservatism that kind of slaps me in the face. It's the type of conservatism I always feared. Low-income (and sometimes low class) socially conservative people who have latched on to high-income fiscally conservative Republican ideals because they were preyed upon with scary words and phrases like "abortion" or "take away our church" or "Obama is Hitler." (none of which makes any sense in any context)

It seems like everyone here is married. (check out Single Girls Clean, Too for my take on that) Girls that are way younger than me have surprised me by talking about their husbands... not boyfriends, not baby-daddy, but husbands. But more on that on my other blog...

What really made me want to speak out about politics now is that I feel stifled. I feel like my voice is not represented here, so I must speak out for myself. I grew up in a Blue State, Minnesota, the ONLY blue state in 1984. I moved to Chicago and I loved it, the coolest thing I did in my three years there was attended the rally in Grant Park when Barack Obama was elected.

I guess this mosque thing in New York is really getting under my skin and making want to speak out. First of all, they have every right to build what ever type of building they want anywhere. You can build a porn store by a church if you want to, pending the church is in a commercially zoned area. What gets me the most about this issue is the same people who insinuated that New Yorkers were not real Americans are now weighing in on issues that primarily affect New Yorkers.

Sure, 9/11 victims came from everywhere, but the majority of people who where affected lived in New York City. During the 2008 elections these people were not real Americans, and now it's in bad taste to build a religious center near Ground Zero just because the terrorists practiced an extreme version of that religion? How does this make sense Sarah Palin? Why are you so keen to "defend" the people you put down a mere two years ago?

Republicans and conservatives take votes from Utah, even though there are splinter groups that still practice polygamy that I'm guessing vote conservative, if they vote at all. Granted, having multiple wives isn't flying a plane into a beloved symbol of capitalism and America and killing thousands of innocent people, but it's still against the law, against what conservatives preach. I guess my point is you don't denounce all LDS just because a few have some extra wives, why should you denounce all Muslims just because a few did some very bad things?

And to further my point, aren't al qaeda doing to Islam what conservatives have been doing to Christianity for years? Taking a religion and turning it political to gain power and frighten the masses? Part of the reason I'm not a big fan of church is because politicians try to latch onto religion and turn the faithful into Republican voting machines.

In conclusion: a mosque is just a type of church for a different religion. Just because you're a socially conservative, God-fearing, church-going person it does not mean you have to vote Republican.

Think about it...