In my last column, I suggested the likely result of the recent U.S. mid-term elections might be gridlock in government, and that many Americans view favourably such a political stalemate in Washington.
Such an idea is, of course, alien to Canadians and Europeans alike. But America is a republican democracy, and its ideal is equality of citizens in freedom.
This republican ideal remains sufficiently strong, despite corruption of institutions and erosion of values. It can still motivate enough Americans to mount a defence of their individual freedom against the capriciousness of an ideologically expansive and intrusive government.
Many Americans who are so motivated came together as the Tea Party movement, and their votes made the difference in who got elected. Many are independent voters, and reluctant to be identified as partisan members of either of the two main political parties.
We are undoubtedly going to see and hear more about the Tea Party movement over the next two years. And since the mainstream media leans more heavily towards the left, is more supportive of the Democrats and President Barack Hussein Obama in the White House, it will work overtime to present the Tea Party movement negatively.
What indeed grates upon the mainstream media and unsettles the left is the patriotism of the Tea Party enthusiasts, and their refusal to heed those many voices of the so-called sophisticated intellectuals in New York and Los Angeles who deride America
He is a member of the Board of Directors for the Center for Islamic Pluralism based in Washington, D.C., a Senior Fellow with the Canadian Coalition for Democracies, and an academic-consultant with the Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C. He has been a consultant with CIDA on development issues and has published widely in academic journals on foreign policy matters and area studies of the Middle East and South Asia.
Mansur is featured on the documentary Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West produced by the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He also unsuccessfully ran for the Canadian Alliance party in 2000.
Mansur has been accused by Canadian Islamic Congress of using "provocative, self-serving rhetoric", and for "promoting an anti-Arab and anti-Muslim agenda".
He is an Ismaili Muslim.
At a press conference on October 2, 2008, Mansur stated that "Islam is my private life, my conscience...[but] my faith does not take precedence over my duties...to Canada and its constitution, which I embrace freely;" "I am first and most importantly a Canadian;" "only in a free society will you find Islam as a faith and not a political religion." Mansur also criticized New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton, whom Mansur said "has gone to bed with Islamists", because he is running candidates in Ontario and Quebec who are closely identified with the push for Sharia law.
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