Stop the Jizyah!

“Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.”

-(The Qur'an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah   9:29)

“Accept Islam, pay the Jizyah, or the sword!” – The choices offered to infidel communities in the path of the 7^th century Muslim conquests.

Jizyah.  Tribute.  Tax on the dhimmi – the non-believer who willingly lives under Islamic law. One of the purposes of the Jizyah is to intentionally humiliate the non-believer. Everyone living under Islam has to pay for the privilege.  As a Muslim, you would be subject to the zakat, or temple tax.  If you are a khaffir, or non-believer, you are subject to Jizyah.  According to Muslims, this tax subsidizes the protection that the dhimmi enjoys, and is only fair because a dhimmi is exempted from military service.

Before we go down that road, let’s take a moment and recall the other things that a dhimmi is exempted from.  A dhimmi cannot be in a position of authority over a Muslim.  A dhimmi cannot hold public office.  A dhimmi cannot bring suit against a Muslim in court (at least not with any chance of winning – dhimmis are not allowed to be judges).  In effect Dhimmis are third-class citizens, second being Muslim women.

We have to examine the protection that this tax pays for.  Protection from what?  Why, Muslims, of course! In essence, our Muslim friends, having attained authority in a country, declare that non-muslims have to pay protection money, without which. . . well, who knows what might happen the next time a mullah whips the crowd into a frenzy against infidels?  Since Jizyah is obligatory, and every Muslim feels it’s his solemn holy duty to enforce the edicts of Allah, if news spreads that you missed your Jizyah payment, every Muslim in reach will automatically assume that it’s open season on you. You have no recourse to the law.  And there’s nothing a devout Muslim likes better than to do Allah’s holy work and send an infidel to Hell.

It’s the biggest protection racket in the world.  Think Mafia, and then remember where the Mafia learned their lessons: Sicily was under Muslim occupation from 965 until 1061.

Muslims are unabashed in their belief that Jizyah is their due.  In the eighteenth century Maritime powers regularly paid tribute to the Muslim Barbary pirates to ensure safe passage of shipping within reach of the coast of North Africa.  The fledgling USA appropriated $80,000 to be paid in tribute to the Barbary pirates in 1784.  In a day when there was no income tax, the US government was forced to raise money by import duties and raising levies among the citizens.  As can be imagined, the willingness of the US population to contribute to pay the Muslim maritime Jizyah was non-existent. The US was forced to pay ransoms for ships and crews captured, rather than a regular tribute.  In 1795, the USA paid nearly a million dollars in cash, naval stores, and a frigate to ransom 115 sailors from Muslim pirates of Algiers.

In 1801 the pasha of Tripoli demanded an immediate Jizyah payment of $225,000 and annual payments of $25,000 from the US.  The newly elected President Thomas Jefferson realized that there would be no end to the demands, and refused.  The pasha of Tripoli then declared war on the USA.  The resulting four year war was the first time that American forces were deployed on overseas soil, and the US Marine became the natural enemy of the Islamist extremist. Tribute/ransom payments continued in one  form or another until a second war in 1815.

The idea of Jizyah, or tribute, was resurrected in 1978, and agreed to by arch-traitor President Jimmy Carter at the Camp David peace accords.  Again, to purchase protection from Muslim armies, the USA committed to pay $1.3 billion annually in the form of “military aid” to Egypt.  This was the cost of purchasing protection for Israel from Egypt. Those subsidies continue to this day.  With the recent change of power in Egypt, the new government was sure to remind the USA of its obligations, and blatantly stated that ending the Jizyah subsidy would release Egypt from its agreement and leave it free to attack Israel.

The result of this insane policy is that Israel and the USA face the spectre of an attacking force armed with the best Western military technology that money can buy, including the M1A1 Abrams tank – currently undefeated in battle. The Egyptian slang for an M1?  “Jew-killer”.

The US taxpayer pays an annual Jizyah to the Muslim government in Egypt, protection money to prevent Egypt from attacking Israel.  This is blackmail, and needs to stop.  This money would be much better invested in ensuring that we are able to annihilate Egypt’s military capability should they attack a neighbor for the crime of being a non-Jizyah paying infidel. Until Islam is subdued, they will continue to try to extort money from the productive countries of the world and return nothing except the hollow promise that they won’t attack us – today.

Santorum: The Not-Mitt, Not-Newt Candidate

Last night Rick Santorum had a surprisingly good night, coming from out of nowhere to win Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri (although Missouri is admittedly a beauty pageant, their delegates will be selected in a caucus).

Is this an indication that Rick has what it takes to maintain this lead, or is it a repudiation of Mitt Romney?  Sadly, I think the latter.  I’m not sad that Mitt is being repudiated, mind you, but that we’re not fronting a powerful candidate who is a clear choice to lead the country.  I’m afraid that Santorum is benefiting from Romney and Gingrich beating each other bloody. Romney has realized that he can’t win against Newt without going negative, and spent a heinous amount of money in Florida doing just that.  It’s a balancing act, to go negative enough to do the necessary damage to win the nomination, without poisoning the well for November, leaving your base disillusioned and staying home.

Romney has lots of problems.  The conservative base is not enamored of him. His record of governing seems to lean very left of center.  Yeah, people can change, but actions speak louder than words.  He’s seen as a member of the Republican establishment, and if there’s anything the election of 2010 told us, it’s that the right is sick of the Republican establishment, business as usual, reach across the aisle politics of Boehner, McConnell and McCain. It was the Republican establishment that helped get us into this mess by not getting a backbone and standing up against the democrats as they piled on social program after social program without a single idea of how to pay for them.

There’s a considerable sentiment among the conservatives that wonders about the wisdom of nominating the guy who lost to the guy who lost to Obama in 2008.  Seriously, this guy polled behind career RINO McCain.  Why is he even a contender this time around?  Is the right comfortable with the idea that you can buy a nomination?  I think not.

The right is also very suspicious of another political dynasty. We’re bothered by those.  We’ve had enough country club political dynasties.  We don’t want another Kennedy family or Bush family wielding so much influence on America.  Romney’s father was the Governor of Michigan.  That’s enough Romney for a few generations, thank you. The voting record shows this – Mittens is polling about where he was four years ago, and he lost then.

Romney speaks well and says more or less the right things, but that’s all it seems like.  It’s hard to tell if he’s saying what he does from a conservative foundation of principles, or if he’s just saying the expedient things that will get him elected.  The lack of detail on specific issues makes him sound like any other political candidate.  Newt, on the other hand, is willing to go into whatever level of detail you want to go on any given subject. 

The problem with Newt is not his failed marriages – I’ve heard an interesting argument there that there’s something about this guy that attracts women, even when he’s already spoken for.  That should tell us something.  His problem is not his political record, where he was run out of office by a revolt among the establishment republicans – led by then junior congressman John Boehner.  For a lot of people that’s a selling point – proof that Newt isn't an establishment guy. 

No, Newt’s problem is that he’s usually the smartest guy in the room, and it’s obvious. That’s probably a good thing; it would be nice to have an intelligent person in the White House for a change.  But it’s not likely to happen, because America isn’t made up of brainiacs who aren’t uncomfortable in the presence of someone like Newt.  America is predominantly sports jock types, who squirm uncomfortably in the presence of someone like Newt, because they’re outclassed and they know it. I know, I know, not everyone is like that, I’m not saying Newt isn’t doing well.  He just won’t do well enough to win.  That’s a loss for America.

The bottom line is that Santorum’s main advantage coming out of last night’s wins is that he’s not-Newt and not-Mitt.  Don’t get me wrong, I do like Rick Santorum.  I’ve listened to him on the radio doing interviews for years and never had a problem with what he said. He’s just not the heaviest hitter in the field right now, and I think America is losing an opportunity if Gingrich isn’t nominated.

And then there’s that foreign policy nutter Ron Paul, but that’s a subject for a different discussion.