From Glenn Greenwald: What political courage looks like:
Park 51 opponents have made much of the fact that polls show majority support for their view, as though public opinion should dictate where religious minorities can congregate. A new poll today reveals that 62% of Americans — a record high — now oppose the war in Afghanistan. By the reasoning of project opponents, shouldn’t that mean that public opinion should be honored with a withdrawal from that country? After all, religious freedoms are not supposed to be dependent upon the approval of majorities; the whole point of such liberties is to protect minorities from majoritarian frenzies. By contrast, wars are actually supposed to be fought only with the support of the citizenry. If majority sentiment should prevail, a far more compelling case can be made that it should do so with regard to Afghanistan than with the religious liberties of a minority group.
Asking for political courage from politicians who represent the most frightened and neurotic people on the planet is a fool’s errand. Of course they know what is up, how wrong what they are doing is. But what is there to make them do the right thing? In American politics, doing the right thing is its own punishment.
Piece of Mindful 