The duty of American Muslims this election

On America's foreign policy challenges. Preventing the complete collapse of Pakistan, which is already in a dysfunctional state, should be one of the top priorities for the next administration. If Pakistan failed, it would pose two critical risks – becoming a strategic haven for the world's Islamist extremists and allowing unregulated fissile materials to find the wrong hands.

The next administration cannot rely on military force to fix Pakistan. America needs to lead an international effort aimed at creating a New Deal type Works Progress Administration to put Pakistanis to work. People who work and trade don't bomb and kill. Candidates who believe in a multifaceted and nuanced approach – instead of blunt-instrument policies – to such vexing problems are better equipped to represent our future.

On America's failing intelligence system. The next administration will have to fix a bloated and inappropriately staffed intelligence apparatus. If we are to combat the asymmetric threats we face effectively, America needs a new genre of human intelligence gatherers whose language skills and cultural identities enable us to know what signals intelligence can never tell us. We spend billions on satellites that cannot find one man. If we spent just millions on training our own citizens Urdu, Farsi, Hindi, and Arabic so we could gather good intelligence for the sake of making better policy, perhaps we could avert the next attack.

On the future of Muslims in America. America is a race- and religion-blind meritocracy. No door has ever been closed to me. I intend one day to hold high public office and I believe my fellow citizens will give me that chance irrespective of my religious beliefs because they know I love my country and have defended it against those who have torn my religion apart.

I want my government to ensure no door is ever closed to my children. I teach my children the principles espoused by Jefferson and Washington as much as I care that they learn the sayings of prophet Muhammad. Leadership is about constructing frameworks that gird a society's architecture. American Muslims need to help construct these frameworks, or our generations will be lost.

The practice of democracy is really about average citizens – no matter our race, religion, or gender – wisely choosing the best and brightest to lead us.

I don't care whether John McCain and Barack Obama visited a mosque or failed to address our communities during the presidential contest. I do care that they understand that my vote, and those of my fellow American Muslims, matters. And that they will take seriously how important a part of American life we really are.

• Mansoor Ijaz is a New York financier.

Previous

1 | 2