This election season, Tea Party–backed candidates must be holding a contest to see who can say the craziest things.

So far, Delaware Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell has been in the lead with basically everything she's ever said in her life. Then New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino put his foot in his mouth by bashing gays publicly (for which he has since apologized). Now, Nevada Senatorial candidate Sharron Angle (pictured) says that Muslims are attempting to enact Sharia law on America.

Huh?

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Angle, who has in the past had a propensity to hide from the media when asked basic questions, says the stringent system, which exists in only a few parts of the Middle East, has already been imposed in Frankford, Texas, and Dearborn, Mich.

She fears that the terrorists are taking over and apparently believes that Islamic extremists are attempting to undermine our freedoms all over the country. Well, Frankford is a place I'm not very familiar with, and the only thing I know about it is that it's actually a part of Dallas that was annexed 35 years ago, so it doesn't even exist.

But as a native Detroiter, the adjacent suburb of Dearborn is a place I'm very familiar with. It is where Ford Motor Co. has its headquarters and where Henry Ford built his sprawling River Rouge assembly plant. It's home to a satellite campus of the University of Michigan and, yes, is home to about 40,000 people of Middle Eastern descent, the largest such concentration in America.

Does that mean they are all plotting Muslim terrorists as Angle is suggesting?

Well, there are no official numbers on how many of Dearborn's Middle Easterners are Muslim, but at least one-third are Chaldean or Lebanese Christians who do not practice Islam at all. If you walk into a place like University of Michigan, Dearborn, Henry Ford Community College or Fairlane Town Center, you just might find lots of people whose parents came from the Mideast. And quite a few of the ones I grew up with still like to blast hip-hop music out of their car speakers, but the likelihood is slim that you'll find them making IEDs, which is what so many far-right wackos want you to believe.

The spirit behind what Angle wants her supporters to know is the same one behind those who hate that an Islamic cultural center is being built in New York City. The people defend America's freedoms as long as they don't have to defend the freedoms of Americans they don't like.

Half a century ago, they focused on black folk. Now, it's Arabs and Mexicans, whom they feel are taking away everyone's rights. Or maybe it's really their birthrights. Who's next? People from Norway?

Populist rhetoric like this and that all too familiar "states' rights" bull crap only serve to rile up people who are so isolated that they only listen to what they want to hear. Unfortunately, all signs point to voting strength this November, and people have a bad habit of voting with their hearts and not their minds.