Cruz Wants to 'Patrol and Secure' Muslim Neighborhoods

Today ISIS launched terror attacks in the Belgian capitol of Brussels, with the death toll currently at 30 people.  Roughly 230 others were wounded in the attacks at Brussels airport and Maelbeek metro station.  Naturally Donald Trump and Ted Cruz were falling over each other trying to come up with the stupidest and most inflammatory response.

Cruz' opening salvo was to treat all U.S. Muslims like criminals, saying "We need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized." I mean sure, practically NONE of the Muslims in the U.S. are radicalized currently, so obviously we need to view all Muslims with suspicion and treat them like they're terrorists.  And I bet if we do, sure enough, we'll create find some radicalized Muslims!

Yes, there have been terrorist acts carried out by Islamic extremists on American soil in recent years, including the San Bernadino shootings, the Boston Marathon bombings, and the Fort Hood shootings, to name a few.  All levels of law enforcement should take any steps necessary to respond to a credible threat, whether that's from an Islamic terrorist or a tea-party terrorist.

But saying that all Muslims are a threat --- which is effectively what Cruz is doing when he calls for police to "patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods" --- is not only irresponsible, it's un-American and counter-productive.  Irresponsible because it treats law-abiding U.S. citizens as criminals, and because it incites anti-Muslim hate crime.  Un-American because one of this country's founding principles is the right to free expression of religion.  And counter-productive because it gives young Muslims here and abroad a reason to believe that they need to fight for their religion against American oppression.

To put things in perspective, we are in the midst of an epidemic of mass shootings in the U.S. (some by Islamic terrorists, but mostly not), and the standard reaction by conservatives like Cruz is emphasize their love of guns and the Second Amendment.  It's telling that Cruz (and Trump) only want to 'get tough' and trample civil liberties when a Muslim is the one pulling the trigger.