Statism Feeds the 'Culture Wars'

Theocratic Republicans have their panties in a wad about a water park in Texas that plans to host a Moslem-only event commemorating the end of Ramadan.

Their stated reasons for the outrage are revealing. Consider the below quote by Dana Loesch:

How is a taxpayer-funded, city-owned entity allowed to discriminate against non-Muslims at a public water park?

There would be literal riots if Muslims were similarly excluded and we all know that's 100% accurate.

Do note that the Daily Mail further reports, "The Muslim-only event in June is being organized and run by the East Plano Islamic Center."

In other words, this isn't some politically correct stunt devised by a bunch of left-wing staffers, as I thought it might be at first: It's a private event. Government facilities frequently host private events, and I'm pretty sure that sometimes includes events of a religious nature.

Although I am not sure about Loesch in particular, I can't think of many conservatives who would object to a public park being used by, say, a Christian group for an event it is hosting. And, assuming the event in question were, say a rental, or at least done on the same terms as any other group using the facilities, I don't see a problem in terms of discrimination or even separation of religion and state.

(Notice which of the two Loesch harps on.)

The bigger issue here -- which doesn't come up at all -- is this: What is the government doing running (or even owning) a water park in the first place? Why are countless people who will never use the park being forced to pay for it? And why is someone who supports Trump -- often (incorrectly) called "the only man standing between the United States and socialism" -- not calling out this blatant example of socialism?

Part of the answer is that Americans have become inured to things like government parks, government parcel delivery, and government schools for over a century. It wasn't long ago that conservatives were beginning to question the propriety of those things, and there still is some pushback, particularly on the matter of schools. But that strand of conservatism is on life support at best. See also: Trump's "golden shares" and his proposal to make Spirit into a government airline.

But for many (perhaps not for Loesch herself) part of the answer is surely that it isn't so much that they object to the government ramming religion down our throats, but that it's the "wrong" religion. Consider conservative support for teaching creationism as science -- or mandating the display of the Ten Commandments in every classroom -- in government schools.

If this water park were privately-owned, as it should be, the Moslem event would be no more newsworthy than any other private event, and even as things stand now, it is far less of a problem (if it is one at all) than what many conservatives are demanding in government schools.

The real outrage here is that people like Loesch pose as defenders of freedom, but fail to account for the full context of an event like this. This event is barely newsworthy as far as I can tell, but the outrage distracts from the real scandal, which is that the government is running a water park, thereby continuing to normalize socialism while also feeding the Christian nationalist outrage machine.

-- CAV

Updates

Today: Corrected a sentence to indicate that the event has not yet taken place.