Nation State or International Integration

 

The election this fall is not about Islamic State, al-Qaeda, Taliban, or other security. It will not be about most of the items the media is talking about. What it is about is the economy, jobs, employment, wages, and everything about the economy but not in the obvious ways being discussed. Where will this next Presidency balance? The main item is which way does it benefit the United States most, continuing internationalism or returning to nationalism.

 

The media and most politicians are pushing this global economy, global integration, global cooperation, global solutions while hiding a dirty little secret, they are selling global as the solution while having the United States and the advanced nations pay for everything while equalizing the global playing field, whatever that means. We had a debate last night and we heard more of the same. Clinton claimed more globalism and taxes on the rich and Trump tried and may have meant to sound like Reagan. What they were not telling the people is that Clinton was using the same internationalism where the world matters more than the United States so in order to equalize the world the United States and the advanced world has to bleed to allow the rest of the world to catch up and then all will be well and how wonderful the world can be. Trump is actually claiming that every nation take their own and put them first and attempt to allow the nations who are leading the world to continue to be the leaders and then assist other nations in making gains and follow and give them access to advances as they are able to implement these advances. So, which way will work best. That depends on which nations one decides should be permitted to advance their own interests than to share with the world.

 

Internationalism is wonderful if your country is on the receiving end and not so wonderful if you are being bled to bring the other nations up to their level. The problem with that are many of these nations that are presumably being given advances in order to raise them to the same level are led by dictators who are enriching themselves and not making their nations any closer to the advanced world as that does not directly benefit them. What these dictators are not being intelligent about is that had they advanced their nation they would have enriched themselves in the process. They are not even thinking nationally rather than internationally. Internationally is a recipe for disaster as it inhibits the leaders from leading and demands that the least efficient be granted the largess while the leaders are placed in financial straight-jackets. Internationalists place a stop sign where all nations must park their own business and park their nation by the side of the highway and wait for the rest of the world to reach an equal position. The problem is that many of these nations, which they are waiting for to reach the same point, are themselves broken and not gaining and will never catch up as they are not even making any effort to reach the next level. Internationalism believes that making all nations equal will solve the world’s problems and inequalities, despite it not ever bringing the rest of the nations to first world status.

 

 

World Map with Borders Deemphasized

 

Nationalism is the opposite view which allows each nation to advance at their own rate and still demands that the first world assist the developing nation but does not demand they try to make equal those nations so dysfunctional that they are the closest thing to an economic black hole as can be found. Nationalism rewards each nation for their efforts and allows each nation to gain at their own speed. Allowing the leaders to lead gives other nations a target and proven path they can emulate but without national gain by the wealthiest nations to blaze the trail for the others to follow. The basis for nationalism is it allows each nation to set their own monetary policies and is against unifying monetary policies as such a system is flawed and destroys the lesser productive nations which has been proven by the European Union Euro which has benefited Germany while leaving Greece behind. Nationalism allows each country to do the best for their own people and society. That does not mean that nations which are developing should not be aided and it is in the interest of the most advanced nations to assist those nations who are developing and making the right choices and allowing them to benefit from the experiences of those nations who have traveled those roads before them. But those nations which are completely dysfunctional cannot be assisted as long as their governance is broken and until the nation decides to change their dysfunctions there is no reason to throw good money after bad.

 

Internationalism is a wonderful, feel-good policy filled of kind words and low on actual results. Internationalism demands that all nations be made to give according to their ability and the funds are granted to countries according to their needs. Internationalism demands open borders allowing free immigration with no limits or criminal and other background checks or other limits or restrictions. The policies sound as if they will allow all nations equal opportunities in word while defining this policy as bringing all nations up to the same level and making things fair for all nations. The truth is that this is accomplished by tearing down the greater nations while benefitting some of the least deserving nations who are corrupt criminal enterprises more than they are actual functional nations. Rewarding the worst while impeding the best prevents progress and will constantly restrict progress and the discoveries of new technologies and new systems which would result in assisting those nations seeking a better future to implement the proven methods. To get an idea on the difficulties caused by internationalism there is a perfect example which we can observe, the European Union. How has that equal currency been working for over half of Europe who are not Germany or Britain but are Greece, Spain, Italy and even France and many of the former Warsaw Nations. The common currency has taken the small differences of economic production where the agrarian economies which work on a different production level having to survive with the same policies of the industrial and other highly developed nations.

 

World Map and Relative Wealth of Nations

 

Permitting each nation to perform at their highest level and to their full potential will set target paths for other nation to follow along the proven road set by the highest performing nations. Progress is the fuel that raises all nations in turn. Progress provides the test paths and allows developing nations to benefit from their more advanced nations but only when they decide to advance. No nation could be forced to grow their economy and advance their national infrastructure and when a nation refuses to advance itself then forcing the rest of the world to wait for such a nation to reach an equative level is ridiculous and counterproductive. Internationalism is wonderful idea if it could function as promised. Nationalism is the dirty sounding word which is accused of being selfish because it benefits the wealthy nations and prevents developing nations from ever reaching the top level. The obvious fault is that accusation is completely false. If nationalism prevented up and coming nations from ever becoming the top nations were true then China would have ruled the world, Spain would be a leading nation, Greece would be the top nation in Europe, Egypt would be the most advanced nation in construction and engineering, Persia would still control East-West trade routes, Portugal would be a great power with colonies throughout the world, and the Hittites would be the great power in the norther worlds of Europe through to Turkey. Top nations change and have changed throughout the history of the world while nationalism was the rule of the world. Internationalism has caused massive stagnation as the world as a whole is not permitted to advance because the leading nations are held back presumably for the benefit of the lesser nations. This will always be a supported philosophy as there will always be more developing and undeveloped nations than leading nations as only a few nations will be in the top ten percent, which is why it is referred to as the top ten percent. Internationalism has been working so well over the past twenty to thirty years since 1979 while the rest of history was pathetic and without economic advancement advances by all nations and we are still using salt as a currency, aren’t we? The progress from salt as money to salt as something on almost every dinner table was a result from nationalism, not internationalism.

 

Compare the two with eyes open and the preferable form, open competition or controlled advancement, the choice could provide opportunity or a slow decadence and eventual decimation. Internationalism is welfare on an international scale much in the form of the Soviet Union and the initial Plymouth Rock Colony which would have starved if not for the Native Americans who grew and hunted for surplus for the winter and had sufficient to teach and feed the Pilgrims. After that experience of all get all they need, while most gave nothing in effort, they introduced a new program where each family kept a percentage of what they grew and the remainder was shared, the amounts of food skyrocketed. That is the balance which nationalism can produce, the most advanced achieve at their highest level and those developing nations learn from those leaders and in time some will replace them as they eventually falter. That is the secret of effort based economies, the people or nations at the top changes with time when another makes decisions which make them even more profitable as the other sinks under likely bureaucratic waste. You decide.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Israel is the Nation in Need of a Constitution

 

Israel is not going to change all that soon as the thirty to fifty people who run the nation are quite happy to fiddle while things slowly burn down. Part of the problem, and it is a large share, is that over half of those who run the government are not elected but all but self-appointed. There are the Justices who sit on the Supreme Court and the Attorney General, The Supreme Court selection for replacing a retiring Justice is one of, if not the, item which should top the list of systems which require change. Currently the Supreme Court Justices are chosen by a committee consisting of nine members. These are the Justice Minister who acts as the Chairman, a Cabinet Member chosen by the Cabinet, a Pair of Knesset Ministers usually one from the coalition and one from the opposition, two members of the Bar Association and finally the Chief Justice and two other Supreme Court Justices who are often chosen due to seniority. This starts to look like a conspiracy to continue the same policies with no real ability to alter the path when one additionally looks at the committee for selection of the Attorney General which consists of five members; a retired Supreme Court Judge, a former Justice Minister or Attorney General, a Knesset Minister tapped by the Constitutional Affairs committee of the Knesset, an attorney chosen by the Israeli Bar Association, and one legal expert chosen in the subjects of civil and criminal law chosen by the heads of the university law schools in Israel. When all it takes to select a Supreme Court Judge is five votes and three are cast by current Justices, one vote from the current Attorney General who is themselves appointed on the advice partly of a retired Supreme Court Judge, a former Justice Minister and an attorney from the Bar Association and you have what can be conveniently called an echo chamber and it becomes sufficiently evident why the Supreme Court votes almost to the Justice exactly the same as the Supreme Court has since its inception. Add to that the interpretation of the law such that the Justices operate under the auspices of the concept that everything and anything may be brought before the Supreme Court for a final decision.

 

One interesting thing is the Israeli Supreme Court consists of fifteen Justices where one could fairly say that the majority, vast majority, are left leaning or so far left the middle ground cannot be seen through the fog and rose colored glasses. The Supreme Court may appoint any number of judges to hear cases often with as few as three to as many as all fifteen for the most serious of cases brought to the court. Further, for the decade from 2000 through 2010 the Israeli Supreme court heard over 11,000 cases each year. The Israeli Supreme Court can be petitioned directly to hear a case without having it first heard in a lower court. This process is abused by NGOs, often NGOs registered in Israel but primarily funded by foreign governments. Quite often if an NGO states as its aim to serve the support and importance of human rights and/or the rights of minority and oppressed peoples, then you can bet that NGO is financed by the European Union, European governments and foreign NGOs so as to conceal their actual financiers. In any other Western Democratic or Republic such NGOs are required by law to be registered as foreign agents and are not granted official standing as an NGO representing that nation. Israel has twice passed such legislation only to have these very same NGOs bring suit in the Supreme Court where the laws were shot down and nullified. One need keep in mind that the Knesset input in selecting Supreme Court Judges is minimal when one remembers that should the opposition Knesset Minister vote with the Chief Justice and two other Supreme Court Justices and any one of the Bar Association lawyers that makes five votes and the judge has been appointed. The Prime Minister gets no real input and the Knesset does not need to ratify the choice, or simply put, the people have little if any influence on the Justices sitting on a court which has ruled that it can strike down any law, rewrite any law and all but, and possibly including, write laws they feel are necessary or would further empower the Judiciary over the remainder of the government and the people. We have also seen instances where the heads of the Police forces have banned people from visiting areas of the country including the currently extended ban forbidding Ministers of the Knesset from ascending to the Temple Mount. There was a recent case where the Security Shin Bet under the guise of investigating a crime rounded up teens and young men as young as twelve and held them without legal counsel at a secretive location refusing to allow their parents information about their child and used what in many nations would be considered at the least coercive measures and at the extreme torture to try a force confessions from youths they knew were innocent but whose suspected political leanings were not to the head of the Shin Bet’s liking.

 

One young man was held for almost ten months, refused to be permitted to attend his first son’s birth, ritual bris (circumcision), and whose major crime was supporting the Hilltop Youth, a group of youths who support nationalist and Zionist policies and desire a return to Davidic Rule, have never committed an act against the government, most serious offense they commit is camping out and building rudimentary outposts on hilltops overlooking trouble spots which are less dangerous when being surveyed by these youths. The young man in question though had committed a grievous crime, Meir Ettinger committed the crime of being the grandson of Rabbi Meir Kahane, a Zionist and Nationalist Rabbi who argued for his causes and predicted the future extremely accurately before being struck down in New York City after giving a talk. His murderer was acquitted as his act of assassination was seen by the Jury as justifiable as the Rabbi had “extremist views” deserving of being shot. These “extremist views” were best expressed as “Am Yisroel Chai” (עם ישראל חי) , the People of Israel Are Alive, and he also continued the cry of “Never Again” which is a chanting that means the Jews will not go silently to their deaths ever again and murdering Jews will have a price. As was known by even the average Israeli who pays attention to anything political, Meir Ettinger and his friends in the Hilltop Youth were innocent of any wrongdoing and they were hauled in, denied council, denied parental access, held in a secretive location, arranged orders to allow stressful interrogation and extreme interrogation techniques and were sleep deprived for up to three days until their bodies shut down from exhaustion, placed in uncomfortable position, stripped of clothing and made to sit in metal chairs and even denied to have showers or change of undergarments. This was beyond anything used on actual terrorists who when denying and refusing to cooperate have been released for lack of evidence while here their evidence was they knew these kids were guilty of something even if it was not what was being investigated.

 

Another problem are the Basic Laws, laws passed by a simple majority just as any other legislation but deemed special and thus take their place as part of an ever growing excuse for a Constitution. Most of the Basic Laws were passed from 1948 through the early 1960s when Israel was an agricultural socialist society with many Israelis residing on communal farms. These Basic Laws have their place but as they can be amended, refuted, and new ones passed should the Knesset decide any law passed belongs incorporated into the Basic Laws such that they tend to lose their importance and meaning as they can be rescinded by a simple majority vote. Then there is the problem that the Supreme Court can also decide which ones can be amended, removed, added, deleted, twisted, beaded, braded, twisted, spindled and mutilated at will by a majority vote of the Knesset or orders from the Supreme Court. This again placed the judges of the Supreme Court as the ultimate rulers of the land and the Supreme Court had granted the Supreme Court absolute authority over all parts of everyday life including silencing us if they so choose to do so as it was Supreme Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak (August 13, 1995 to September 14, 2006) stated that all things are in his writings some of the following:

 

Aharon Barak, “Judicial Philosophy,” pp. 477 and 485

In my eyes, the world is filled with law. Every human behavior is subject to a legal norm. Even when a certain type of activity-such as friendship or subjective thoughts-is ruled by the autonomy of the individual will, this autonomy exists, because it is recognized by the law…. Wherever there are living human beings, law is there. There are no areas in life which are outside of law.

 

Barak, “The Constitutional Revolution,” p. 30

The basic values of Judaism are the basic values of the state. I mean the values of love of man, the sanctity of life, social justice, doing what is good and just, protecting human dignity, the rule of law over the legislator and the like, values which Judaism bequeathed to the whole world. Reference to those values is on their universal level of abstraction, which suits Israel’s democratic character, thus one should not identify the values of the state of Israel as a Jewish state with the traditional Jewish civil law. It should not be forgotten that in Israel there is a considerable non-Jewish minority. Indeed, the values of the State of Israel as a Jewish state are those universal values common to members of democratic society, which grew from Jewish tradition and history.

 

Barak, “Basic Law: Freedom of Occupation,” p. 208

When the attempt fails, and the values of the State of Israel as a Jewish state cannot be reconciled with its values as a democratic state, there is no escape from the need to decide. This decision must be made, in my opinion, according to the views of the enlightened community in Israel. This is an objective test, which refers the judge to the full set of values which shape the character of the modern Israeli.

 

Barak, “The Constitutional Revolution,” p. 34

If up until now judges were given “conventional weapons” to deal with legislation by way of interpretation and the creation of Israeli common law, now judges have been given “nonconventional weapons,” which allow nullification of legislation which does not observe the Basic Laws’ criteria.

 

This was a definitive part of Aharon Barak’s judicial philosophy which devolved, not developed, as his tenure on the courts and in practice where he gained contempt for the Zionistic, nationalist conservative swing the people of Israel took over his lifetime. The gaining of a distinct and traditional Jewish, and in many cases Israelite, determination and movement from secularist to a religious Zionistic populace where he saw the only way to salvage the utopian leftist dream was for ultimate power to be vested in the Judges which by their manner of selection remained stuck in 1958 Israel with its collectivist society and socialist governance could be maintained even if that required the judges to decide on each law if it should stand or be struck down or even rewrote to the judicial review standards which precluded change. His view of such is further described as we continue.

 

United Mizrahi Bank, p. 352

With legislation of [the new Basic Laws] a substantial change occurred in the status of human rights in Israel. They have turned into constitutional rights. They have been given supra-legal constitutional status. A “regular” law of the Knesset cannot change them. Regular legislation cannot infringe a protected human right unless the demands set out in the Basic Laws are met. Nonobservance of the constitutional demands turns the regular statute into an unconstitutional statute. This is a statute which bears a constitutional flaw. The court can declare its invalidity.

 

There is this infamous quote often attributed to Barak is that “everything is adjudicable,” which was often presumably the motivation and empowering ideal through which the meaning was taken that the High Court should be able to rule on any matter, including cases involving Israeli military activity in Judea and Samaria and breaches of civil liberties, and not just on issues relating to national laws. Even if Aharon Barak had not stated such, the courts in Israel today, and especially the Supreme Court, are acting as such and seldom refuse a case where they are the sole practitioner of whether legislation passed duly by the representatives of the people who instructed the members of the Knesset with their support to produce legislation as an unwritten contract bound in the ballot box now sits beneath the raised gavel which determines whether or not the people and their elected officials are capable of self-governing or are they merely children who have no right to address the issues of the day as they see fit. This is why it is long past time for the Knesset to appoint a select committee, they may wish to make sure the Supreme Court does not get wind of this as they would strike down the committee as a threat to the state and its omnipotent judiciary, and direct them to draft a Constitution based on the theories of limiting the power for a King such that he collects no amassed wealth and must serve the people faithfully and beyond their best abilities. A solid Constitution which places all before the people’s elected officials to decide and limits judges except in the most drastic and obvious of errant departures into forbidden grounds protected by the constitution and not the will of the adjudicator, are left to apply the law faithfully and with the intents of the people. A Constitution which places the police, military and secret services under civilian control and where any officers or enlistee speaks out defaming the state or its elected and appointed individuals which are empowered by the people is punished under codes of proper conduct for military personnel in uniform or representing the State. The Knesset should remain as the house which appoints the Prime Minister but the second half of the legislature should be directly elected by the people. The nation of Israel could be divided into proper districts. These Israeli Voting Precincts for Upper House might be considered as the Negev, Jerusalem & Area, Coastal Plain & Dead Sea, Tel Aviv, Sharon Valley, Western Galilee & Mt. Carmel, Sea of Galilee & Valleys, and Upper Galilee & Golan with each receiving with Five Seats Each for forty seats plus, Three Super Districts; The North (Western Galilee & Mt. Carmel, Sea of Galilee & Valleys, and Upper Galilee & Golan), Central (Jerusalem, Sharon Valley and Tel Aviv), and the South (, Coastal Plain & Dead Sea with the Negev) with Five Seats Each for a Total of Fifty Five.

 

Israeli Voting Precincts for Upper House Totaling Fifty-Five

 

The Upper House described above, let’s call it the New Sanhedrin, will ratify appointments to the cabinet and senior appellate judges including the Supreme Court. The Knesset (lower House) as stated will appoint the Prime Minister. This method allows the Parties to make their coalition and the Knesset would run exactly as it does now with elections when their term ends after four years while the New Sanhedrin terms will not be dissolved should the Knesset coalition crash and burn, they will serve three year terms with the vote being taken every three years on a set date on the Hebrew Calendar. With the Prime Minister who was appointed as the leader of the coalition and was initially tapped by the President, who will remain being chosen as they are now, after all, we would not want to end the good old party people never change ever and the same problem people show up just in a different Cabinet Ministerial location so that the incompetence gets spread through all of the government. That is why the small adjustment where the Cabinet Ministerial position first have to be validated by both houses thus there will be less if any invent a cabinet post to make this one feel important and receive additional pay while preening around. Then the people placed in these positions must be approved by the New Sanhedrin upper legislature. Hopefully this will lead to placing people from outside the Knesset body into Cabinet posts such that the person responsible for an area of the government actually knows something about the work the department actually performs.

 

The shuffling of the deck chairs on the HMS Knestitanic sailing the icy-waters of incompetent Ministerial appointments will come to an abrupt end. One example is the leader of Yisrael Beiteinu, Avigdor Lieberman, who during his career thus far he has held Minister of National Infrastructure, Minister of Transport, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Strategic Affairs, Minister of Foreign Affairs and currently is Minister of Defense. Either Avigdor Lieberman is one of the most intelligent and diversely capable or he had to be ill-prepared in at least one of his positions. Ehud Barak is another regular Minister having been elected not only to hold many varied positions but also served in cooperation or as a member of a number of parties. Israeli politics can confuse even those familiar with parliamentary systems as politicians make new parties, merge parties and change parties sometimes like they change socks. Tzipi Livni has headed two parties while serving in four, where one was a merged pair of parties. Her Career began and appeared steady and content with Likud but then Ms. Livni got the idea that she was destined for greater things and saw her opportunity with Ariel Sharon and his breakaway party from Likud forming Kadima which has a mixture of numerous Ministers from other parties across the political spectrum from Likud to Labor. Kadima started to fail after Ariel Sharon fell into a coma eventually passing. Rather than bite the bullet and join a party Tzipi Livni founded her very own party with some of the remnants from Kadima and a few others who believed there was opportunity as the signs were right, well, almost. Her party was called Hatnuah, meaning “The Movement.” Then she saw this party sinking fast and she made herself an opportunity to share the Prime Minister position with Labor Leader Isaac Herzog. Then problems began as it was noted she was not bringing the numbers of voters hoped and the Labor rank and file felt they were sacrificing too much to gain too little and the Zionist Union, the merger of Labor and Hatnua which the media wanted to defeat Likud that there found Zionist Union defeating Likud going into election day by a margin of 24 to 21 on average. The election result was slightly different with Likud garnering 30 seats while Zionist Union did receive their 24 but obviously insufficient to lead a coalition. This bode poorly for Livni who if she desires a future may have to simply swallow hard and join Labor and hope to rank sufficiently well enough to gain a seat in the Knesset. Tzipi Livni has been Leader of the Opposition for which she is eminently qualified as she has spent much time opposing everything while sitting in the opposition or in the government. Her other positions is a list of many positions including Minister of Regional Cooperation, Minister Without Portfolio (for which she is eminently qualified), Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Immigrant Absorption, Minister of Housing and Construction, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Justice. She must be a very capable person. The advantage of having a bicameral legislature which divides responsibilities and a Constitution which defines every branch of government with specific capabilities, responsibilities and limitations, and it is the limitations which often are the most important. The described government arrangement for Israel with a bicameral legislature with the Knesset remaining as currently configured but with the courts made at least indirectly controlled by the people rather than controlling the people and everything else it desires while all but replacing its Judges all but by themselves without any limiting factor within the control of the people. The arrangement was just an idea for the sake of offering and starting the discussion and not a serious suggestion unless the Israelis, my fellow Israelis, read and decide that the framework described has potential as an idea with which to start a national conversation. The described system also would encourage the Prime Minister to find some ministers from outside the government or assure that those chosen from within the government actually are competent and not just blindly pretending to manage something they actually do not understand. The real reason for this discussion is to limit the judges, especially the Supreme Court which even cancelled the financial agreement made on order to start production of the offshore gas fields demanding that the profits be invested in welfare and other socialist, virtually communist, programs because the people who invested in the drilling and took all the chances and took the risks should not reap benefit from their venture, not when foreign funded HGOs can petition the Supreme Court to spread the wealth making sure they get a share with which to further attempt to destroy Israel. That should have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Amos Oz Does not Speak in My Name

 

Amos Oz speaking at his seventy-fifth birthday celebration stated, “I cannot stand to hear that term ‘price tag’, and even more so I can’t stand to hear the term ‘hilltop youth’.” He continued to decry and denounce what he referred to as ‘hilltop youth’ exclaiming, “It’s time we look at this monster straight in the eye. ‘Price tag’ and ‘hilltop youth’ are just sweet nicknames for a monster that is time to call by its name,” he continued, adding that those who carried out these vandalism attacks were “Jewish neo-Nazi groups.” And Israel most famous leftist egalitarian hater and proven loud denouncer of all who do not tread his narrowest of paths at the extreme opposite end of the political spectrum from Zionist had this to add, “There is nothing that the neo-Nazis in Europe do and these groups do not do,” charged Oz. “Time to call them by name. Perhaps the only difference is that the neo-Nazi groups enjoy the backing of quite a few nationalist, even racist legislators, as well as rabbis who have given them a pseudo-religious basis.”

 

Perhaps Amos Oz lost all sense of reason and sanity and was carried away by the moment and in his exuberance of reaching the age of seventy-five, though this is far from the first outburst, but maybe it is we who should be denouncing the repeated hatreds of his fellow Jews and countrymen praising and exulting a mass murdering convicted terrorist. I am referring to his having sent one of his personally autographed books, translated into Arabic, to the imprisoned arch murderer and arch terrorist, Marwan Barghouti, with the wish that he be released soon from prison. Amos Oz has denounced and belittled Zionist, observant Orthodox Jews, and the entire settlement movement often referring to them as fascist and now adding neo-Nazi to his list of insults and derogatory references to these dedicated, religious Jews. These are his terminologies as I prefer to refer to these heroes as those living and exemplifying Torah and the commandment to settle the lands as was commanded of Moses to instruct the Israelites, of which the majority remaining Jews were from the tribe of Judah whose tribe was always cast to lead by example and conquer the lands and we are now also commanded by Hashem to settle and resume our claim to the lands. Amos Oz would have us refute the title of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish People as he does not see the Jews as tied to anything other than his leftist and reactionary hatred for Zionism and the identification of oneself as one who fears and loves Hashem and realize and exults the gift and blessings we Jews are blessed with by Hashem. I doubt Amos Oz even believes in a Creator and that Hashem exists neither does he see Torah as defining the way to a righteous world where people respect one another and try to see the best in people, even in Amos Oz.

 

I am not what Amos Oz would refer to as a ‘settler’ nor do I consider myself yet to be a strict Torah observant Jew though I am aware of my deficiencies and at least trying to bring myself to a point where I can believe I stand amongst my fellow Jews as we are all making our own attempts at living by the commandments, faithfully exhibiting the traditions of our people, settling the land and by land we mean that which was promised us, and not an inch more or less than those defined in Torah, and lastly living to respect others and expect one thing as a minimum requirement for all others to meet defining civil behavior, thus deserving of respect, is for them to at a minimum to obey the seven Noahic Codes (see below).

 

 

The one thing I learned in my return to Torah is that the very first step is accepting that you are but somewhere within the mapping of all of humanity and though we are all measured to be at different places on a mapping that only Hashem knows and physicists are trying to determine the number of dimensions there are in the universe Hashem created, none of us are likely to be any closer or further from the divine entrusted to each of us by Hashem and in at least doing less additional damage as it is the part of us which returns to Hashem for the determination of what will be required to permit our individual soul back into the Heavenly Realm. Eventually we all will meet in that realm and we on this plane of existence know not which of us is closest to Hashem’s hopes for us and that makes us all equal in the eyes of Hashem and thusly we should extend the same respects to each other. That is why though I feel pain in the words; the accusations laid upon our fellow Jews by one whom Hashem has been most generous and graced with what others have found worthy and of merit beyond my understanding, but enjoy these earthly rewards because in the reality of our eternal existence those trinkets hold no value. The unfortunate truth is that on this world others place merit upon us using a different scale, one which may or may not hold value in the end but I believe that part of our cleansing process is finding forgiveness from those we maligned and realizing the equality of all in Hashem’s kingdom.

 

I can only speak for myself, as I am likely to be more judgmental than the actual victims of each terse accusation leveled by Amos Oz and his fellow celebrated leftist academics, writers, directors, composers and the host of other intellectuals and academics, the referring of a fellow Jews as a neo-Nazis or any other reference comparing them to such a universally reviled group is not a kind act and only serves to further alienates one from another. Such are of an unkindness linkable to the referenced individuals as it were the Nazis who defined evil and berating of fellow human beings for their beliefs and on that basis alone made them be considered as an entity undeserving of even the smallest of respectful treatments. Such labelling of an entire group as being Nazis, whether neo, paleo, defacto, extra, intra, ante, crypto, anti, arch, astro, hyper, hypo or any other prefix one might care to place before terms such as Nazi, cheapens the Holocaust and its dreaded connotations and denotations and belittles the acts and consequences of their horrors. The terminology ‘Nazi’ is such a term which must remain identified with Adolf Hitler and the criminal governance and open wound they inflicted on their own countrymen and women and all of humanity. The hilltop youth and the settlers from whence they originate have not ever murdered entire groups of people nor have they denigrated an entire race of people simply to gain power.

 

Where you, Amos Oz, and your fellow celebrated elites have a mutual and special uniqueness, you are among the last progressive, liberal leftists who believe that their views are the sole aspect of human development above contempt and thus so far superior to all others that this grants you the right of judgmentalism. There is one small problem with this view; no human being should be permitted such power to decide for an entire society their political viewpoint enforcing a form of prejudicial restriction upon thought so as to produce a world with thought-crime as defined by George Orwell in his later works. There is an interesting parallel between the Amos Ozes of the world, and particularly of Israel, in that in their youth and early adulthood they were all leftists and had the heart that is required of those inexperienced in the ways and consequences of their views but unlike the Amos Ozes of the world, George Orwell witnessed where taking his youthful views and applying them to their logical and unavoidable end and altered his perspective on the spectrum of political thought and thus wrote truly inspired works which will remain staples for people with discerning taste long after your self-serving and self-aggrandizing works have faded from the human consciousness, and perhaps that is the one gratifying piece of knowledge I can tolerate your special hatreds for people who think as do I.

 

We have learned from others’ mistakes such as the horrors brought on the human race by Communism, a proven failed form of governance which still manages to have its proponents who claim that they have the magic formula which will make such a governance produce the magical kingdom which requires that all make great sacrifices for the good of everyone but in practice those sacrifices are still demanded and they serve a select few who rule which leads to ever worsening productivity as people working for the privilege of a few will slowly grind to a halt as the people realize that their efforts do nothing to improve their lot in life. There is another name for Communism and that word is slavery. Granted they are not identical but to the worker slaving away for their Communist masters or the slave working away for the plantation masters, there be little difference.

 

Amos Oz, I realize that you have a feeling of privilege because you have received the loud applause of an audience of your fellow travelers and as your group has invented awards and commendations which provide for you fame and fortune often which does not reach beyond the gilded walls of your mentally restrictive thought police, but there is another side to this world which is that you never get to experience the life and aspect of those who are not exalted by fellow travelers and who all make a living out of purporting and supporting unviable systems which can sound so egalitarian when played against the greed of Capitalism and the horrors of nationalism with blanket denunciations. Your premise that nationalism means fascism is erroneous and I can give you a quick reference on how. During World War II, as in many wars, there was the side of the Axis Powers which were indeed fascist and exhibited nationalism yet even Stalin noted that the Russians who fought and died after the Nazis turned on their former Communist allies were not fighting for any governance or government; they were fighting for Mother Russia, their nation. The English were fighting to preserve and save England. Both sides exhibited nationalistic traits where things were done for King, Queen (especially Queen Elizabeth II) and country. Both sides were nationalist but for very different reasons.

 

The other claim many leftists make is that Capitalism is evil and oppresses the worker but such is not true. Capitalism rewards two things above all else, hard work and smart work. These function in a complimentary manner. When a worker works hard he is paid in accordance with what he produces be it through piece-work where the worker receives a percentage of the production of their work or an hourly rate where the worker receives payment for their hours of labor and their rate of pay is merited in hourly rate raises. Every so often a worker looks at their way of production and believes they have a better mouse trap or a better and more efficient way of producing the mouse trap (all references to mouse trap is imaginary as it could be automobiles, clothing or even widgets). He will be rewarded by increased production which provides greater profit and thus better conditions and payment of the workers. One example of such in practice was the implementation of the assembly line which has had an effect on many and varied industries and thus production increased, increasing sales and lowering prices, all making life easier and more rewarding. Many leftist elitists claim that such is selfish and only serves to reward greed. I will admit that I know something which you also know to be true, people are greedy and if their greed does not hurt anyone else, then they will be as greedy as possible. In a worker this means producing more so his pay rates rise. To the innovator it means more and greater ideas produce more money in their pockets. Yes, Capitalism is powered by greed and as mankind is greedy there will always be fuel for the Capitalist engines of the economy.

 

Socialism, be it communism which is universal socialism or fascism which is nationalist socialism, rewards only the few who stand above the law and above their fellow man. The workers are told that they will receive all that they desire regardless of their work habits or even if they work. This system turns into a problem rather rapidly, when told that reward is not tied to production there starts to be more demand than production can meet because people are too busy taking from the system without investing effort into the system. It does not take a rocket scientist to see where that road leads, to collapse and some very unpleasant end for those at the top. Socialism can work on the small scale as everybody knows and can see what everyone does and those who do not produce can be shamed into working and contributing more. Even being a small group did not work for the early pilgrims who almost starved to death under a purely socialist system where everyone shares in the production of the whole. They had a massive shortfall, but once they permitted each farmer to keep ten percent of their crop for their own use, the production led to excesses and a much happier community. This was the documented story of the Plymouth Colony which has often been challenged and never refuted successfully, though every challenge is quoted by those attempting to discredit the reality but rarely are the results of each challenge touted but instead each retelling of the challenges applies another layer of opaque lacquer slowly dissolving the fact the challenge was refuted as why would anybody argue that a refuted challenge proved their point? How about because by doing so after every telling the failed rebuttal begins to sound as if it were truth for the illogic of using it if it were false. That is how many untruths becomes accepted wisdom despite the entire fiction being well known by those educated few who allow the warping of history to serve their own ends.

 

Plymouth Colony Recreation on Actual Site

 

The above is something for the average college and even high school student to be aware of so they can dig a little themselves and find the reality and not the reputation where in some circles a reputation is more easily gained through aggrandizement than through hard toil as long as your story is the accepted story. It is sad that many of the ‘soft-sciences’ are taught by ideologues who refuse to condone any divergence from their warped views which they will champion until the cows come home, which will never happen as nobody repaired the holes in the fencing and the cows have crossed the highway and gone to a neighboring Capitalist farm where they feed the cows and repair the fences.

 

Beyond the Cusp