Minima de Malis

A recent poll out of Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut finds that most New Yorkers favor moving the proposed Islamic community center. While the poll indicates that a slight majority (54%) understand that this particular Muslim community has a constitutional right to build the community center / mosque at the proposed location; a similar majority (53%) feels that the “sensitivities of 9/11 relatives” should be a more significant consideration. This begs an important question:  While the emotional sensitivities of Americans who lost precious loved ones on 9/11 should be thoroughly considered as a matter of principle, what are the geopolitical implications for American foreign policy if we also fail to consider the thoughts and feelings of one fourth of the world's population that happens to be Muslim? Do we really want to give Al-Qaeda another talking point in their recruiting arsenal? Maybe as a country we have more to gain by allowing that community center to be built at its present location than we do by moving it. The United States still stands as the world’s last remaining superpower, and we didn’t get there with an inability to choose the lesser of two evils.