When did we forget what made us great in America? When did we forget that the creation of Israel was a response to right-wing fascism? When did we forget who we really are?
I am just 30 years old. I came of age in Ronald Reagan’s America. I watched Reagan bungle Lebanon and Syria and bomb tents in Lybia. I observed Reagan visiting the tombs of Nazi SS soldiers. I saw Reagan criticize Israel for bombing Arafat’s home in Tunisia and then his secretary of state became the first American dignitary to confer legitimacy on Arafat. Yet AIPAC responded by concluding he was a great friend.
I grew up in a Republican-dominated America. When unbalanced budgets were known as “economic growth,” homelessness was the fault of the developmentally disabled or the Vietnam veteran, and defense buildup meant $3,000 toilet seats. Logic obviously is not part of the equation.
So how do I answer my questions? Why and when did this happen? Bottom line, I don’t have the first clue.
Orthodox Jews wonder why Democrats have the Jesse Jacksons and Al Sharptons of the world speak at their conventions. I wonder why a history of exalting James Baker, Pat Buchanan, Bob Dole and John Sununu, using moderate politicians as mere props for ultra-right policies, and virtually creating Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden escapes our scrutiny.
Orthodox Jews say Palestinians never had it as good as they do now, living under Israeli rule. Remember what it was like for them under Arab rule, they say. Israel has improved their lives. In 1860, Jefferson Davis was certain he had improved the lives of the African charges on his plantations.
Orthodox Jews ask why we must support the civil rights of those engaged in immorality (halachic and otherwise); after all, these civil rights can perpetuate an abomination. I say, go ahead. Pass the law or the amendment. Congratulations on eliminating immorality. But tomorrow may bring enforcement of any and all age restrictions for marriage, with society defining marriage as not just between a man and a woman, but between adults – not 18 year-old post adolescent seminary graduates. Take that one into our communities.
We are so worried about the slippery slope of open-mindedness that we forget the slippery slope of being close-minded and rigid. In our short-sighted drive to use our platform to protect our own interests, we forget exactly how we arrived at that platform. Or even what gave us the right to think we have interests in the first place.
Jewish life is predicated on meshing seeming contradictions. We are a people who reward hard work and protect personal property, but we expect and demand economic justice. We set rules for self-governance, but caution about respecting the outsider. We favor an organized society, but recognize the needs of the individual. Sound familiar? Is it Torah or the U.S. constitution?