The Great Divide

This past week I was having lunch one day with three fellow Jews. One asked why I thought there was an increase in anti-Semitism. My reply was not well received. I spoke about the growth of the Left, and how Leftists had come to increasingly dominate the Democratic Party. I mentioned how the Left despises Israel, and how that hatred of Israel spills over into a hatred of Jews in general, especially if those Jews show even the slightest support for the Jewish nation. I pointed out that it was Leftists who shouted down pro-Israel speakers on college campuses across the country. I discussed that an anti-Semite such as Ilhan Omar was able to make one anti-Semitic comment after the next, while the Speaker of the House not only refused to condemn her, but actually excused her comments and defended her. Of course, I acknowledged the anti-Semitic, white supremacist, Neo-Nazis as also being a serious problem. Unlike the Left, however, the Neo-Nazis have no home in any mainstream political party. "Too political" an explanation I was told.

I was frustrated. Not because they disagreed with me - that I am used to. It was as if they simply were not comprehending what I was saying. An Op-Ed in the 2/25/20 Wall Street Journal referred to an Axios poll from 2018. "61% of Democrats thought of Republicans as racist, bigoted or sexist. About half of Republicans described Democrats as ignorant or spiteful." (Charles Lipson's Op-Ed.) I prefer "uninformed" to "ignorant." My explanation was too political? The greatest perpetrators of anti-Semitism in history were the National Socialists in Germany - a POLITICAL party also known as the Nazis.

Which brings me to this current election season. Notwithstanding Joe Biden's victory today in South Carolina, Bernie Sanders has a strong possibility of becoming the Democratic nominee for President. Sanders spent his honeymoon in the USSR! "No one who shares Middle America's core values of freedom, democracy and entrepreneurship would choose to honeymoon in the Soviet Union." (Joseph Sternberg in an Op-Ed in the 2/28/20 WSJ.) But that was not all. No, Sanders saw fit to praise the Soviet subway system, and praised worker programs and youth programs. The Soviets killed tens of millions of their own people. They had the gulags. They had the KGB to make sure no one dared attempt to speak freely. They had breadlines and empty store shelves. But Sanders saw fit to talk about their subway system. Sanders is what the Soviets would call a "useful idiot."

Sanders also has been speaking admirably of Castro and Cuba, as well as other Communist regimes. "You know, when Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program? Is that a bad thing?" No, it's great. It allowed him to make sure the people could read only what he wanted them to read - only his Communist propaganda. The killings, imprisonment of political dissidents, government control of the press, nationalization of private businesses, "appropriation" (stealing) of private property - not really worth mentioning. After all, Castro had a literacy program.

Being a Leftist first, and a Jew somewhere way down the line, Sanders is an anti-Semite, and has affiliated his campaign with a number of anti-Semites. (Accused anti-Semites include Linda Sarsour, who acts as a surrogate for Sanders, Matthew Duss, who is his foreign policy adviser and Faiz Shakir - his campaign manager. Google them.) At one of the recent debates, Sanders referred to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a "reactionary racist." While he always managed to find nice words for murdering Communist regimes, not so for Israel or Netanyahu. Israel is the only democratic country in the Middle East. Netanyahu was instrumental early on in shifting the Israeli economy from socialism to a free market economy. The result has been an explosion of free enterprise and high-tech, unsurpassed by almost any other country in the world. Equally bad, not a single one of the other Democratic candidates on stage pushed back against the false description of Netanyahu.

The American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is the largest pro-Israel lobbying group in Washington. In the past, leaders of both parties attended and spoke at AIPAC's annual convention. Sanders: "I remain concerned about the platform AIPAC provides for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights. For that reason I will not attend their conference." Honeymooning in a country that murdered millions was okay, but speaking at AIPAC, which advocates for a two-state solution in the Middle East is unacceptable. Elizabeth Warren also said she would not attend AIPAC, as did Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, along with former candidates Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand and Beto O'Rourke.

In my 7/17/16 post I discussed "Classical Liberalism." Leftists, which make up a growing portion of the Democratic Party, are not liberals. Many, no doubt, started out as classical liberals, but just went along when the party abandoned such liberal ideals as free speech, tolerance for opposing views and support for a free market economic system (capitalism). In the Sternberg Op-Ed he discussed why Jeremy Corbyn, the Labor Party leader in the UK, suffered such a dramatic defeat in their recent election. Corbyn and Sanders are alike in a number of ways. Support for a socialist program. Support for the Palestinians over Israel. Sternberg: "British voters concluded that the danger of a leader who didn't share their values was greater than the risk even of Brexit."

I have said it many times before. The reason for the great divide in this country is values. A Democratic Party that once shared in the American value system now has a Leftist vision for the country and the world. As Sternberg noted, Corbyn lost in a country that had suffered under socialist policies, and when they had enough of the poverty of socialism they voted in Margaret Thatcher. In the 1930's, some in the US had a flirtation with socialism and communism, but the American people have never had to live under such a regime. One hopes that they do not need to experience socialism to reject it. "Socialism of any type and shade leads to a total destruction of the human spirit and to a leveling of mankind into death." Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, political prisoner of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Comments on the Events of the Last 3 Weeks

(Note: It's been 3 weeks since my last posts. But it has been an exciting time as our son got married. So much has transpired over the last 3 weeks that I will not be able to comment in detail on everything. So, in no particular order, let's take a brief look at a lot.)

President Trump awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Rush Limbaugh. The mainstream media (MSM) and the Left were in a tizzy over the award to a conservative political commentator. One op-ed writer (Virginia Heffernan in the 2/7/20 LA Times) suggested that the highest civilian award should go only to humanitarians, scientists and heroes and the like. After all, President Obama gave the award to "world-historical figures such as civil rights supernova Rosa Parks and Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel." No mention was made in that op-ed of Obama also giving the award to strident left-wing commentators such as Barbra Streisand and Robert De Niro. But I long ago gave up on expecting consistency from the Left and the MSM. Hypocrisy, however, is another matter.

Speaking of hypocrisy, Harrison Ford was recently on Jimmy Kimmel's show. After referring to Trump as a "son of a bitch," he then complained that politics has gotten too divisive. Can you say two-faced?

Continuing on the hypocrisy theme, Trump has been viciously attacked for his recent pardons and commutations, with some asserting it is yet another example of what they claim is an assault on our democracy. Yet, Bill Clinton also pardoned white collar/political felons, including former U.S. Rep Dan Rostenkowski, former Arizona Governor Fife Symington III, and Whitewater figure Susan McDougal. While Clinton did catch some flak on a few of his pardons, it was not deemed to be the end of our democracy.

Just how divided are we as a country? When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tore up her copy of Trump's recent State of the Union address, it was a perfect metaphor for the severing of our society - Left from Right. Just to be clear, I saw Trump hand a copy of his speech to Pence and Pelosi. I saw Pelosi extend her hand to Trump as he was turning back around. If he saw her hand extended, he should have shook it. I am well aware of all the names Pelosi and other Dems have used to disparage the President. But if we are to last as a unified country, these behaviors need to stop - at least in public.

Speaking of divided, after the House voted along party lines to impeach Trump (although two Democrats voted against impeachment), the Senate then voted along party lines to acquit Trump (with only Mitt Romney voting to convict). Why Romney really voted that way only he knows. He claimed his conscience required it. But was it spite, for not getting appointed to Trump's cabinet? Pelosi had said she would not pursue impeachment without bipartisan support for it. However, it has become clear that she defers to the left-wing of her party.

Speaking of divisive still, it was sad, but not surprising, to hear this story. One of our out of town guests at the wedding (herself no Trump fan - she despises him) was asked by her cousin why she would travel to California to spend time with Republicans and Trump voters. After all, those Trump voters, the deplorables, are racists, sexists, homophobic, Islamophobic and generally evil and despicable people. The only question I have is how many people actually believe all that? Millions, no doubt. On the other hand, I have asked Bill Clinton voters if they supported sexual harassment, sexual abuse and even rape. After all, Bill Clinton was accused of all those things. The reply is often a blank stare, or a "that's not the same." Agreed, as rape is a serious, violent felony - being sexist or racist, etc. is not.

I have to be honest, I am getting increasingly annoyed - no, angry - at these intolerant Leftists. Some, like the aforementioned individual, verbally express their contempt for those who dare disagree with them. But there are increasing numbers who believe they have an absolute right to be violent to those evil Republicans/Trump supporters. It's not just Antifa members. Recently, a 27 year old man in Florida felt he was entitled to drive his car into a Republican voter registration booth. Said the perpetrator: "someone had to take a stand." Not as bad as the shooting of the House Republican's baseball game in 2017, nearly killing Rep. Steve Scalise. It was during the last election cycle, on July 29, 2016, that I wrote "A Personal Tale of Left-Wing Intolerance," after being verbally accosted in Court. I wish I could say that things have gotten better, but clearly that is not the case.