Independent Moon Runs On Xenophobia In Georgia
On May 11, there will be a special election in Georgia’s 9th congressional district to replace Nathan Deal, who has resigned from the House of Representatives in order to campaign for Governor of Georgia. Most of the attention in the race has focused on Democrat Mike Freeman and Republicans Lee Hawkins and Tom Graves. However, an independent candidate is also running for the seat: Eugene Moon.
The defining characteristic of Moon’s campaign for Congress is xenophobia, the fear of people from outside one’s own cultural group. For example, Moon argues against allowing government offices to have services available in non-English languages, even though there have always been a wide variety of non-English languages spoken within the United States, starting back at our nation’s birth. Moon writes, “The diversity of culture is to be appreciated, not embraced. English is a unifying force and with the exception of immigration agencies and departments, all government function should be carried out in English only.”
Moon also seeks to undermine the Constitution, which under the 14th Amendment recognizes that any person born within U.S. borders is a citizen of the United States, and further guarantees that all people, citizens or not, within the jurisdiction of the laws of the USA are entitled to equal protection under those laws. Moon’s political platform explicitly contradicts the Constitution’s guarantees, stating that, “Persons who are not citizens or resident aliens of the United States have no right to petition or benefit from any agency of the government except for petition of entry or asylum. A child born in the United States to non-citizens is not a citizen.”
The degree of support that Moon’s campaign is able to gain may be regarded as a measurement of the appeal of xenophobia. However, it’s worth noting that Moon is not the only candidate in the race to use fear of outsiders as a tool for rallying political support. Though his rhetoric is not quite as heated as Moon’s, Republican Tom Graves also works in his campaign to heighten fears of illegal immigration, using the language of emergency to claim that “we’ve failed to meet the challenge in dealing with the illegal immigration crisis”.
