28 December 2023
Hoodwinkers Don’t Need Evidence
Just like Giuliani’s accusations against Georgia election workers, Trump’s defense attorneys in the federal election interference case believe they can convince the trial judge that their client’s claim that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” solely on the basis that Trump’s supporters also believe it.
Israel – Hamas War Illustrates the Human Dilemma
Israel and the world were outraged by the 7 October 2020
attack by Hamas operatives on non-threatening Israelis in areas surrounding
Gaza. The raid killed 1200 Israelis and took over two hundred hostages.
The Israeli government justifiably resolved to retaliate by
attempting to extirpate Hamas with violent force. However, it undertook a
military campaign of bombing and other destruction of large areas of Gaza,
resulting in the deaths of at least 20,000 residents of the Gaza Strip.
Owing to its professed mission of assassinating all Jews in
Israel and eliminating the Israeli state, Hamas merits being forced out of
power in Gaza. However, the utter destruction of civilian life in Gaza is not
proportionate to the murderous 7 October attack. Moreover, by retaliating in
such an indiscriminate manner the Israeli government adopted behavior as
reprehensible as was Hamas’s.
A curiously damnable fault of Israel is their complicity in
the continued existence of Hamas as the ruler of the Gaza Strip. Israel not only accepted Hamas’s dominance in
Gaza, presumably under the authority of the Palestinian Authority; it has
subsidized Hamas’s budget in order to strengthen its ability to resist the
insertion of Hezbollah into Gaza’s affairs, if not its replacement of Hamas as
Gaza’s government. That was another
illustration of the misjudgment of Israeli intelligence, this time missing the genocidal
inclination of Hamas’s leadership.e
Although it is clear that Hamas cannot lead the peaceful
confinement of Arab Palestinians, the government of Israel has demonstrated
through its blessing of aggressive Jewish settlements in the West Bank its
inability to control elements of its own population who do not respect the1948
terms under which formation of the Israeli state was internationally
sanctioned. Regardless of ethnic
definitions of justice, there will never be peace in the eastern Mediterranean region
without the imposition of international force.
It cannot be denied that the U.S. must take the lead in establishing
that force; however, the current alignment of American politics does not
promise that such a policy will be adopted, at least following the 2024
Presidential election. Both possible
outcomes will produce blind acquiescence to policies determined by Israeli politics owing either to
the strength of the Israeli lobby in the U.S. or to disregard for the relevance
of world affairs to the well-being of individual Americans, in particular to that
of their leader.
International ambivalence is not a rational attitude in the
modern interconnected world. Personal
well-being cannot be separated from the well-being of just about anyone else on
the planet and no nation or affinity group can pursue its own goals without
considering their impact on other groups.
There are no absolutes; there are no isolated human experiences. A broken toe will compromise one’s whole
body. Diplomacy constitutes responsible behavior
in our interconnected world. The
responsible resolution of the Israel-Hamas War and of the conflict in the
entire region from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea will mean sacrificing
many abstract religious and ethnic principles. It is necessary to posit a spiritual world where those principles can be honored
absolutely. But in the material world
where I am writing they only cause strife for those of us whose afterlife is nothing more than the notion that those who outlast us will remember us.
22 December 2023
Rule of Law vs. Popular Democracy
Even the amendment of the U.S. Constitution can be done by less than a majority of citizens. The United States was never a strict popular democracy; it is a federation of similarly less-than-popular democratic states. Thus, the principle of rule by law, however the law is adopted and consented to, means that a federation, for example, may set rules for conducting the affairs of the community by consent of the governed, including defining the criteria for legitimizing those rules.
There is no conflict between the shibboleth of democratic government and the primacy of the rule by commonly accepted law. To believe that how we have agreed to run things--under a basic law like the Constitution--somehow violates our moral commitment to democracy is to fall for the trickery of a demagogue, like Trump, who tries to confuse the public into abandoning good order and support his personal ambition to return to power.
18 December 2023
A Realtor As President?
Matthew Schmitz, in the 12/18/2023 NYT, said many voters see the former President as a businessman. It’s important, however, to realize what is the nature of his business background. He and his father built their fortunes on real estate development. The key to success in that field is not satisfying consumer demand. The real estate developer must convince an investor that his project will find adequate potential occupants by appealing to their dreams.
Making that Deal is central to The Donald’s ability to acquire capital assets—not producing anything of intrinsic value. Trump’s art is selling investors on the likelihood that the project will have a desirable outcome and, lately, convincing voters to accept his promises to blowup an unsatisfying governmental status quo.Supplanting Mom
A grandparent is a welcome aide to any daughter-in-law in providing services that help her raise the grandchildren. That includes giving gifts to the children that their mother, in particular, approves of.
13 December 2023
Bureaucracy Dampens Authoritarianism
In the 13 December 20234 NY Times Charles Blow attributes Trump’s authoritarian appeal to voters to his wish to “bulldoze” through America’s bureaucracy. Democratic institutions and the rule of law protect us from despotism.
It is not the President who normally keeps the civil service
in line. Anyone who has worked for a federal Department knows that nothing, and
certainly no civilian complaint, gets more attention on Washington than a
“congressional inquiry.”
Unfortunately, the recent compulsion of Senators and Representatives to advance their ultimate careers in the private sector has reduced the importance of constituent service in the agendas of many of them. They often are more motivated to curry favor with their future corporate employers. Thus, liberal democracy seems to serve the interests of voters less efficiently than an appealing would-be dictator does. It is up to presidential aspirants to make this anomaly clear to the public.
08 December 2023
Universities Eschew Political Correctness
The testimony to the US Congress on 7 December 2023 by the presidents of three prestigious universities displayed their conviction that the standard for university behavior is not Political Correctness. Politicians must adhere to common public opinion to preserve their jobs. Institutions of higher learning celebrate their protection of academic freedom, regardless of popular sentiments, including ethnic and religious prejudices.
The presidents’ failure unequivocally to condemn antisemitism on their campuses demonstrates the difference between academic freedom and political correctness. Those three women must have known they were stepping on a hornet’s nest by testifying on camera. As was probably their intention, the world-wide esteem of US universities escaped unharmed when those women refused to play their inquisitor’s crowd-pleasing game.And yet, the university is not exempt from honoring society’s principles of civility or the rule of its law. Thus, when advocacy, not just the practice, of discrimination on its campus threatens the well-being of anyone’s rights, the university cannot hide behind its commitment to academic freedom and avoid condemning such actions. This is a difficult distinction for any university to make. However, it is the executives and professors at our universities whom we must rely on to possess the intellectual strength to navigate that course.
05 December 2023
Carbon Trading Cheats Our Children
The purchase of carbon-offset credits by polluting countries from corrupt developing country governments is just a scheme for burnishing the reputations of polluting countries and their businesses in the eyes of climate change activists by burying their taxpayers’ funds in the pockets of crafty LDC politicians. If influential people express their concern for the future livability of planet Earth, the temptation will always exist for scammers to convince the public to devote their resources to soothe their consciences by supporting a trading charade that can be portrayed as a solution to global warming. Of course, there are also eager partners in less advanced economies who are more than willing to participate in the scam by selling credits for the “greenness” of their own unfortunately still undeveloped industries.
Society’s level of concern with the impact of climate change
on the survival of life on Earth, and with that impact’s immediacy, will
determine whether it takes effective remedial action. The
world will likely simply trust in the innovation of our progeny to correct the
problem and assuage our guilt for
leaving them behind in an environment much less promising than the one into
which we were born.