Where Herman Cain Lost Me

American businessman and Republican candidate for the Presidency Herman Cain has officially lost me as a potential supporter in the 2012 race. I left the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) having loved the candidate. I came in not knowing who Herman Cain was and left with him in my top three choices for the Presidency.

I loved Herman Cain so much I started my first ever Tea Party speech with the same quote he started his CPAC speech with. The appeal of a businessman as the Chief Executive is always very great for me. Which is why it is so difficult for me to withdraw my support of Mr. Cain because of his comments toward Islam, Muslims, and the idea of Mosques in the United States.

Mr. Cain consistently brings up his upbringing in the Jim Crow South and how the idea of racial discrimination caused him great difficulty in life. Then why would Cain then place the same intolerance toward Muslims and Islam?

As much as Herman Cain preaches about his love of the United States Constitution he hasn't seemed to have read a lot of it. For instance Herman Cain has spoken about his reluctance to appoint a Muslim into his cabinet and has stated that a test would have to be administered to prove loyalty to the United States and not Islam which violates United States Constitution Article VI: "...but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."

Now when discussing the new mosque to be built in Tennessee Cain stated that people should have the right to ban mosques from there town. This of course is in violation of the very religious freedom that led the settlers to come to America in the first place, and in violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

Mr. Cain's statements are hurtful and ignorant of Islam. Putting an entire religion into a category because of a few radicals is the very stereotyping Cain was against in the Jim Crow South.

It's a shame a man with such great problem-solving skills and such an adamant supporter of the FairTax has had to say these things. We are at war with Islamic Extremists not all Muslims. The dialogue of hate must be removed from his platform.