Dr.Manzur Ejaz wonders – tongue-in cheek- in his weekly blog whether US policies are being led by a Pakistani.

I am sure that instead of the notorious Karl Rove, it is a Pakistani American who is the chief architect of President George Bush’s policies. Only this can explain why the US is becoming similar to the Pakistani state where language, religion and the military are considered vital for its very existence. After declaring English the national language and nominating a former military man as the head of CIA, Christianity is the only missing ingredient as far as the US is concerned. If religion too is added to the mix, the US would become a Pakistan-like ideological state of the faithful.

I would have suspected Dr Amanullah Khan, a Pakistani American physician, of advising Bush (he is on a White House advisory board panel) but he is a committed Punjabi poet who supports oppressed languages. Hence, he does not seem to be the guilty party. There must be another Pakistani-American “mole” pushing the US towards slippery slopes.

On the prompting of the Pakistani-American or pressed by circumstances, Bush and his conservative Republican Party are playing the language card to gain an edge in the coming November election. After their approval ratings plummeted, Bush and the Republican Party were looking to regain political ground. Making English a national language is extremely popular: more than 90 percent of the Americans want English to be the national language constitutionally — it is already the official language.

But what we need to consider is why no one, not even the most unpopular parties, used this ploy to gain good will in the past? Similarly, no one has tried to transform the US into a police state by giving unlimited powers to security agencies. Likewise, it is not clear if any past government has ever tried to induct evangelical religious ethos into state policy ala the Bushies. In short, making English a national language is part of a larger agenda that the ruling elite are pursuing in the US.

One thing is clear. The US is reaching a point where it is becoming an ideological state like Pakistan. As Urdu, Islam and the military became the essential components of the Pakistan ideology; English, Christianity, Capitalism and the Pentagon are becoming the bases of the US state. The transformation of a pragmatic society into a rigid, faith-based entity is reaching a point of no-return. Like most societies, the US has reached this state because of her perceived insecurities.

Take Muslims. Apart from 9/11, the changing US demography is also a reason behind the anti-Muslim crusade; Muslim immigrants had started overshadowing some other key minorities. However, this is not to say that Muslims can compare with Hispanics. The multiplying numbers of Spanish immigrants, legal and illegal, are seen as the ultimate demographic threat to the White Caucasian majority. In some West Coast cities and states, Hispanics already outnumber the White Caucasian population. If the immigration patterns hold, the Spanish speaking population will be a decisive majority in the next 15-20 years.

According to some demographers, White Caucasians are fighting a losing battle. According to a recent survey, half the children under the age of five have Spanish speaking parents. The Spanish speaking immigrants tend to have large families while the numbers of White Caucasians are steady or dwindling. Therefore, every trick in the world, including building a wall along the Mexican border, to the stem the flow of Spanish immigration, cannot stop the Spanish speaking from becoming a majority in the country.

Anticipating its bleak demographic future, White Caucasians are redesigning state institutions to ensure their “minority” rule in the future. It is against this backdrop that language becomes a useful instrument. Latin, French and English have been used for such purposes in different places at different times. In Pakistan, Urdu and English have been used similarly.

In addition, Bush’s decision to appoint General Michael Hayden as the director of CIA — a civilian institution — has also caused raised eyebrows. The move is going to intensify the perception that in this administration the military is overshadowing civilian institutions. The Pentagon already dominates foreign-policy making and intelligence operations. Similarly, on the pretext of fighting terrorism, security agencies have encroached upon many personal freedoms that are protected by the constitution. It may be an exaggeration for some but for many the US has become a police state.

Religion has also been infused into the US constitutional setting. Evangelical Christians have left their imprint on many US laws. For example, abortion is outlawed in many states and there is a move to declare same-sex marriages unconstitutional. One may or may not agree with abortion or same-sex marriage but the Evangelical warriors’ crusades against such social phenomena and the manner in which the ruling elite is playing into their hands is changing secular state institutions into theocratic ones.

How can a country that is preaching democracy to the rest of the world justify itself as it tries consolidating all its power in the hands of a white community that is rapidly decreasing in numbers? Obviously, there is no answer to this question. But we ponder the question as we watch a military general taking over the CIA, Hispanic populations being threatened across the land, and a Christian Neo-Con in power — the future of America seems to be similar to Pakistan’s present, which ironically the US is keen to change.

The writer can be reached at manzurejaz@yahoo.com. This article was first published on his blog at www.wichardhara.com

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