By
Cory Spiller
Joseph Sweeney has plastered his face and slogans across the U of A campus. Last Tuesday he lost his eighth consecutive attempt to take the Republican nomination for district five out of the hands of Kolbe. This year he was able to acquire 18.27 percent of the vote from Republicans who were hopefully unaware of his controversial positions. He represents a disturbing faction of reactionary politics that lumps religious fanaticism with racist logic. Although his words are insulting and frightening, we must listen to people like Sweeney. If they are ignored we can be sure his agenda of racism and hate will leak back into the politics of our country. His existence should be a warning of the hate-politics that is harbored in the Christian-right movement.
One of Sweeney's campaign posters was stapled to the bulletin board next to Social Sciences. It read, "God, Country, Duty First. No Judaicus Atheistic Ambitions." His aversion for Jews in this country stems from what he believes is their inherent atheism; he believes 75 percent of Jews are actually atheists. John Siedel, a University of Arizona professor of Judaic studies, calls Siedel "a dangerous anti-Semite, who is not appreciative of the cooperation of Jews and Atheists in building this great country."
Sweeney believes that it is Judaicus ambitions that started WWI and WWII, and it is these ambitions that spawned communism. He states, "24 out of 25 of the original members of the Bolshevik central committee were international zionists. What they really were was a bunch of atheists...that's the literal law...they were a bunch of thugs...they took over the whole damn government of Russia."
Sweeney's association of Judaism and communism is absurd and incorrect. Jews comprised only 5 percent of the Bolshevik party, and as of August 1917, only six of 21 members of the Central committee were Jewish.
Sweeney cites the Ukranian famine, during Stalin's reign, as evidence of the evil nature of communism. And for this reason he believes Hitler and Nazism is justified. He says "Nazism was coming into place because there was a demand for it... there was a call for it. The recognition of all the information coming from the Ukraine about what the Bolsheviks where actually doing to the Vikings and Scandinavians. They were just cold-blooded atheistic communists."
Sweeney believes that he understands the logic of Nazi Germany, which he stated as if speaking from the perspective of a 1930's German, "we've got to bring a superman to power in order to match this crazy-ass Stalin. If we don't get a superman to put him in place, and if he doesn't practice totalitarianism, we won't be able to counter-act these people." Sweeney means to clearly state his position on Nazism, "There is plenty of justification for why the nazis came to power. They came to power because...international zionists came to Russia with their best intentions to turn the thing into a hell-hole of murder and assassination and every damn thing else."
When asked how Jews are damaging our country today, he responds, "they can take a nationalistic ideology and totally undermine it by practicing international zionism." Sweeney has an agenda for correcting our nation's problems. Most importantly, he demands awareness to the failings of our present system "because we know that these systems provide a massive amount of opportunity to the Jew." Sweeney is never shy, and knows no shame. When asked whether or not he would consider deportation of Jews, he replies, "Yeah...hell yeah. If they're not going to pledge allegiance to the citizens of this country...yeah, I wouldn't have a problem with that." Sweeney even goes so far as to suggest charging American Jews with treason, "that's what they charged Jesus with. They charged him with sedition, sorcery, and treason."
Sweeney's version of history and politics simplifies our nation's problems so that he can blame a religious minority. When, in fact, American socio-political problems are exceedingly complex. It is these complexities that Professor Douglas Weiner believes "make simplistic attributions to blame attractive, especially to lazy minds." Sweeney finds a safe harbor in the Christian-right movement where he is surrounded by other lazy minds, whom look no further than the bible next to their bed for solutions to our nation's problems.
Frighteningly, he doesn't even have a problem with being called a Nazi. Well, Mr. Sweeney, you should. A Nazi is a racist and an individual who considers those of other races sub-human. Nazis use fear and murder to maintain their power. Although our nation protects Sweeney's right to run for office, the people of this nation will never elect him, and should never forget exactly what it is he stands for.
Cory Spiller is a history senior. He can be reached at editor@wildcat.arizona.edu.
