France's Burka Ban: Real Problem, Wrong Solution

France’s ban on full veils is official today. Anyone who wears the Muslim niqab or burka will be fined $216. Already at least 59 people have been arrested. France’s 5 million strong Muslim minority is pledging civil disobedience.

The problem of Muslim integration and hostility to French culture and values is real. But the burka ban is the wrong solution. Indeed, I think it will divert the West from the real changes that will need to be imposed in order to retain French culture.

During the Cold War Ronald Reagan criticized Joe McCarthy’s tactics, not because there weren’t communists in the government, but because McCarthy’s approach was ineffective. As Reagan put it, he was using a shot gun when instead he should have been using a rifle. In other words, he caused too much collatoral damage and that was damaging to the anti-communist cause.

The burka ban is similar. The French police will now be enforcing the law on Muslim women, who are hardly the root cause of the problem here. How damaging is it going to be to see Muslim women being pulled from the streets when they are engaging in civil disobedience?

The problem in France is not the burka. It’s merely a symptom. Banning the burka is not going to protect French culture, it’s going to allow French authorities to avoid the real threats to French culture.

Instead France needs:

1. Radical immigration reform.

2. French language laws. If French is truly the language of the French government and commerce, immigrations will need to learn the language in order to prosper.

3. End the culture of dependency. Part of the reason you have so many young Muslim money running around France and causing trouble is because there are generous benefits for the unemployed, the poor, etc. The French welfare state makes Islamist political activism more potent. They have time to protest in the streets because they have taxpayer money in their pockets.

4. Focus on the more disruptive cultural threats. There are massive Muslim prayers in the streets of France that literally shut down traffic. Unlike someone wearing the burka, this is truly disruptive and is designed as a mass action. If you are going to pray in the streets and block traffic, you will be arrested. Period.

5. Work against radical imams. Focus on marginalizing the ring-leaders here, namely the Islamists leaders in France who are preaching jihad. Don’t invite them for consultations and panel discussions. Isolate them. These imams love the burka ban because it makes them relevant.

Whenever faced with a thorny issue, American politicians love to focus on the symbolic act, rather than the courageous act of substance. In France its not different.