"We Have Too Many Mexicans": An Interview with ISNA's Anti-Alcohol Partner, Howard Lydick

By Ahmed Nassef

Howard Lydick is president of the National Temperance and Prohibition Council (NTPC), whose annual conference is being held this week at the headquarters of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) in Plainfield, IN at the invitation of Secretary General Sayyid M. Syeed. Lydick, a tax adjuster from Richardson, Texas, is also the vice presidential candidate of the Prohibition Party, which is a member group of the NTPC. ISNA joined the NTPC last year when Omer Bin Abdullah, editor of ISNA's Islamic Horizons Magazine, and Daoud Nassimi, ISNA East Zone committee member and vice chairman of the Council of Muslim Organizations of the Metropolitan Area of Washington, DC attended the Council’s 2003 conference. MWU! launched a WakeUp! Call campaign on Thursday calling on ISNA to cancel the Conference.

MWU!: Who are some of the members of the NTPC?

Howard Lydick: There is the Prohibition Party, the Women's Christian Temperance Organization, the Good Templars, and ISNA. I represent the Independent Committee on Alcohol and Drugs for the United Methodist Church.

MWU!: Is this committee officially sanctioned by the United Methodist Church?

Howard Lydick: No, it is not. We formed it in 1994 after we tried to get the approval of the general board of the Church, but the national Church turned us down.

MWU!: How did the involvement with ISNA begin?

Howard Lydick: That began last year. I extended an invitation to [ISNA Secretary General Dr. Sayyid] Syeed and he graciously accepted. He sent [ISNA East Zone committee member] Daoud Nassimi to represent the organization at our convention last year in Silver Springs, Maryland. Mr. Nassimi became a member of the special committee formed last year to make a video on the 18th Amendment. We have gotten some very good ideas about it, and it seemed like it was going to happen. But the committee decided to delay the video because they thought it was better to have someone who abstains from alcohol do it.

MWU!: Why are you having the annual meeting at the ISNA headquarters this year?

Howard Lydick: They invited us. Daoud came back and said he talked to Dr. Syeed who extended an invitation to us to meet at the headquarters.

MWU!: Are you worried about being involved with a Muslim group?

Howard Lydick: The bulk of the people in America drink, so they are already angry with us. Unfortunately, you are not the only ones who have a few nuts.

MWU!: As the vice-presidential candidate of the Prohibition Party, how would you deal with immigration?

Howard Lydick: I'd put an immediate 10-year moratorium on immigration. If we let the entire world move here, our cities will begin looking like New Delhi. We have too many Mexicans coming here. They don't want to be good Americans. They still celebrate Cinco de Mayo instead of the Fourth of July.

MWU!: How do you feel about going to the ISNA headquarters and seeing all the immigrants there?

Howard Lydick: After I had my heart transplant in October of '95, the nurse had a red dot on her forehead. But no one could have taken better care of me than that person.

MWU!: You also call for ending all US foreign aid. Does that include aid to Israel?

Howard Lydick: Israel is a special case that needs to continue. You need to understand the evangelical view of that--the scripture indicates that at one point Israel will come back. Israel will be supported by the old lion and the young lion, interpreted as America and England. We will stand by and protect her. That rascal Arafat is the reason why there is no Palestinian State. He can't ever tell the truth. He is still trying to drive Israel into the sea.

MWU!: Do you think ISNA will endorse you and your running mate in the 2004 presidential elections?

Howard Lydick: We would be happy to have it, since we have common views. We are certainly open to talk to anybody.

MWU!: But why not vote for the Republicans?

Howard Lydick: The Republican Party claims that they are broadminded, but they are nothing but political whores. We stand for what Republicans used to stand for: a husband supporting his wife, a man in good health should support himself.

MWU!: What's your advice to Muslim Americans?

Howard Lydick: There is a sect in Saudi Arabia that has very different views from the majority. They are running mosques in the US where they preach what Al-Qaeda is preaching. Something has to be done about that.