Louis Capozzi | The land of hypocrisy?

Citizen Capozzi | A call to admit the refugees fleeing the Syrian Civil War

By Louis Capozzi 11/23/15 12:08am

“The road to power is paved with hypocrisy and casualties,” Frank Underwood says in season two of “House of Cards.” On the 2016 presidential campaign trail, many Republican candidates are making this saying literally true.

Around the nation, many are still reeling from the recent terrorist attack on Paris, in which at least 128 people died. In the ensuing political dialogue, many have pointed out that one of the Paris bombers took advantage of a Syrian refugee passport. Many people — even at Penn — are now questioning President Barack Obama’s recent call to receive 10,000 refugees fleeing war-torn Syria.

Yet President Obama’s desire to help these refugees is understandable. The Syrian Civil War has already cost hundreds of thousands of lives and has displaced around 12 million Syrians and made around four million into refugees, half of them children. Just like many of our ancestors, some of these refugees now look to the Statue of Liberty in hope of a better life.

Meanwhile, the Republican presidential candidates have rejected the pleas for help. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson has demanded that Syrian refugees be kept out, saying “I’m not all that anxious to bring in a bunch of refugees from Syria who would likely be infiltrated with jihadists.” Even after the House of Representatives passed legislation slowing the admission of Syrian refugees, Senator Rand Paul has introduced legislation prohibiting them from receiving taxpayer-funded benefits. Indeed, no Republican presidential candidate is in favor of President Obama’s plan.

However, some Republicans are in favor of admitting some refugees: the supposedly less threatening Christian ones. Senator Ted Cruz favors admitting Syrian Christian refugees, but argues it is “nothing short of lunacy” to allow Syrian Muslim refugees into the country. Both Cruz and Jeb Bush have suggested a religious test for Syrian refugees that would only admit Christians.

In a way, the hesitancy to help refugees is rational. Many governors and legislators from both parties don’t want to endanger American lives for the sake of foreigners. Even though the federal government employs thorough vetting procedures and it’s unlikely the Islamic State would plant terrorists among the refugees, an unwillingness to risk American lives for the sake of foreign ones is understandable. Yet I have trouble believing this to be the rationale of the Republican candidates.

These are the same candidates that have tripped over each other during recent debates to say that America must lead the world in addressing foreign problems. Governor John Kasich said, “We should be there, including boots on the ground ... You can’t solve anything just with air power.” Jeb Bush wants the United States to declare war on the Islamic State.

Donald Trump advocates a more refined approach, saying “I would just bomb those suckers. That’s right. I’d blow up the pipes; I’d blow up the refineries, every single inch. There would be nothing left.”

All this Republican rhetoric reeks of hypocrisy. These candidates oppose helping desperate refugees fleeing savage barbarians on the grounds that they will threaten American lives, but then want to sacrifice American blood and treasure by invading Syria? These candidates insist on American global leadership, but then avert their eyes when the world is crying out for our help? It’s hypocrisy, and it exposes something even nastier in some of these candidates: Islamophobia.

After the Paris attack, Governor Mike Huckabee exhorted Americans on Fox News to “wake up and smell the falafel.” Ben Carson compared the refugees to “rabid dog[s].” Besides calling for a registry of Muslims in America, Donald Trump said he would “strongly consider” shutting down mosques. Ironically, he said, “Some of the absolute hatred is coming from these areas ... The hatred is beyond belief. The hatred is greater than anybody understands.”

Indeed, the hatred is greater than many understand. Islamophobia is significant in America, as reflected by recent polling which shows around 40 percent of Americans would not vote for a well-qualified Muslim presidential candidate. Reflecting this prejudice, Ben Carson recently said, “I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation.”

The rhetoric from the GOP presidential candidates is, to quote President Obama, “shameful” and “un-American.” A certain amount of hypocrisy is to be expected in politics. However, I hope the voters will reject this particularly egregious stance.

If the Republicans don’t change course, they won’t just be hypocrites. They might also have blood on their hands.

LOUIS CAPOZZI is a College senior from Mechanicsburg, Pa., studying classics and history. His email address is capozzil@sas.upenn.edu. “Citizen Capozzi” usually appears every other Monday.

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