Proposed bill rooted in irrational fear

Rep. Carl Gatto, R-Palmer, says he will try again to shepherd legislation through the Alaska Legislature that he says targets growing influence of foreign laws in the American judiciary.

Introduced by Gatto last year, House Bill 88 is described as "an act prohibiting a court, arbitrator, mediator, administrative agency or enforcement authority from applying a law, rule or provision of an agreement that violates an individual's right under the Constitution of the state of Alaska or the United States Constitution."

Proponents of HB 88 - including the Mat-Su Borough Assembly that passed a recent resolution in support of the bill - say they worry that Shariah law is gaining purchase in the United States and want to make it clear that this set of moral codes and religious laws, also known as Islamic law, does not supersede state or federal law.

We fully support the notion that all citizens are governed by the same set of laws and share the same set of rights, as established in the U.S. Constitution. So we are troubled by an effort based on overblown fear, that seems to single out one religion for potential persecution on a local and national level.

Although hindsight may be 20/20, if we don't learn from the mistakes of the past, we might as well be blind. It is a short leap from legislation like what Gatto is proposing to full-blown McCarthyism. Japanese-Americans and Alaska Natives, whose ancestors were rounded up and incarcerated during World War II, are living testament to the steep downside of nationalistic paranoia.

Time and again, decade after decade, across the pages of history in countries around the globe, history bares no witness to beneficial results achieved from painting whole groups, cultures or religions of people with one broad stroke.

Every person in the state of Alaska and the United States is governed by the same set of state and federal laws - whether they are Muslim, Christian, Jewish, atheist or none of the above. And they are endowed with the same set of civil rights.

The famous and oft-repeated words from President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first inaugural address seem appropriate here: "So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."

We recognize the solid and sometimes-distinguished record Rep. Gatto has brought to a long legislative career, but we think his proposed HB 88 is misguided and unnecessary.