November 5, 2012
The National Association
of Muslim American Women (NAMAW) calls upon all people of good conscience in
the US to vote their conscience and to pray that God will find our country worthy
of good and true leadership.
In respect to the issues
that matter most to us, we found no significant differences between the establishment
candidates. We cannot call for people to vote for a third party candidate
because we cannot see how any of them could actually win. Of course should a
person’s conscience guide them to vote third party, they have no reason to do
otherwise, in our opinion.
Whereas the economy is
very important, we don’t feel that the economy is the only important issue
facing our country at this time. So we
ask that when making your decision that you consider these other important
things also:
1). Neither candidate
was willing to say that they would work to repeal the controversial aspects of
the NDAA. So no matter who is elected we
can expect that the threat of arbitrary and indefinite detainment and detention
of US citizens based upon even constitutionally protected dissenting political
speech and association will remain a threat to US citizens and our
Constitution. Obama
said that he would never use this power against a US citizen; Romney said he
supports the NDAA and made no exception in respect to the controversial aspects
of the bill.
2). Neither candidate ever
addressed the secret memo written by an Obama administration attorney that sought
to legalize the targeted assassination of US citizens by special teams of military
personnel based upon secret evidence and allegations of aiding and comforting an
enemy. In spite of the fact that the US presently has
laws on the book that make treason, which is defined as aiding and comforting
the enemy in times of war, a criminal offense punishable by death. This secret
memo removed the right of the US citizen to a trial, to face his or her accuser,
and even denies a citizen the constitutional right to legal defense against the charge.
This causes us to assume that the motive behind the memo was not to discourage
or to deter treason, but rather to make it possible for the government to chill
dissent with the fear of targeted political assassination. Obama ordered or allowed the assassination of
two American citizens under cover of this controversial memo. Romney did not
attack the memo, or the assassinations, which causes us to believe that both candidates
feel that the US Constitution is less important than the desire to have the
power to arbitrarily assassinate US citizens, and to silence dissent in the US
with the threat of government sponsored political assassination of US dissidents.
3). Neither candidate explained
to us how they would address the huge debt that we owe as a result of a record
breaking 12 tears of war. No pledges to
freeze the debt ceiling, no pledges to attempt to restructure or renegotiate the
debt, no pledges to end the wars and no pledges to take back US monetary policy
or to end Federal Reserve control of US currency and monetary policies. Even
the most severe austerity measures will not solve our country’s economic
problems if we don’t end the wars, stop raising the debt ceiling and stop over printing
money.
4). Neither candidate
made mention of much needed changes in US foreign policy. No mention was made of
ending the preemptive strike policy, or the war on terrorism which is a
perpetual war matrix. No mention was made of reassessing our
rendition program, the drone program, our unconditional support of Israel, or
our biased policies in the Muslim world.
No one mentioned the immeasurable loss of US credibility, prestige and
popularity that is casing the US to be increasingly marginalized and isolated,
nor did either candidate have a single recommendation as to how to reverse this
negative trend.
5). As for domestic policy,
no solutions were proposed to address the problem of student debt, the noncompetitive
education our children receive in out universities and colleges. No mention of
the more than 20 million Americans left uninsured even under the Obama
Healthcare reform. No solutions were
offered to address the growing problems of poverty and hunger and homelessness
in the US and neither did either of the candidates address the low testing
scores that have placed US students at 25th in the world in their understanding
of math and science.
We ask that as you
consider these points, you keep in mind that whoever we vote for tomorrow, after
the elections, there is lots of work to be done. It will take the power and commitment of “We”,
the people, and not only the government, to make the US the more perfect union
that we all dream of.
May God bless the people
of conscience in the US and may He guide and protect.
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