Will an election fix America?
America, we need to wake up. We’re taking our political passions too far. For the first time in my life, I am afraid of my Nation. Nine days ago, eleven people were murdered at a Pittsburgh synagogue while praying, and I see no resolve from the Government, or either political party to fight the hate and violence.
In the mind of forty-six-years-old Robert Browers, the men and women in the Tree of Life Synagogue were such a threat to the United States of America that he had to take matters into his own hands.
So Mr. Browers did what the gun advocates tout as a patriotic duty. Absent government action to remove the threat as he sees it, he took his gun and shot eleven unarmed people. In the mind of Mr. Browers, and many like him, all Jews must die. The frightening fact is the hate groups are armed.
The left was fast to react and point the fingers at Donald Trump. Using dead Jews for political gain before the authorities could remove the bodies from the scene was callous in my eyes.
Anti-Semitism is not new but is now political
For the left, what happened in Pittsburgh is Donald Trump’s fault as much as if he pulled the trigger. I’m centrist/left in my political beliefs. I was when I was a Republican. The GOP was open to opposing views once upon a time. Ideologically, I’m not an apologist or supporter of Donald Trump. However, I can’t beat the “it’s Trump’s fault” drum. Here is why.
What happened in Pittsburgh is not new. It is old. I checked the Anti-Defamation League site for acts of anti-Semitism over the past decade. I found an article that cited a shocking statistic. Seven-thousand acts of anti-Semitism happened in America over the past ten years, including murders.
Another statistic I found is that every six days a Jew in America is assaulted. Also, online threats to Jews occur at least once every hour.
This behavior has been going on long before Donald Trump. Donald Trump’s reprehensible behavior has emboldened anti-Semites and racists, but they alone own this behavior.
It is vile that Donald Trump and the GOP exploit bigotry to win elections. It is as though nobody remembers our national motto is “E Pluribus Unum,”out of many, one. It seems Trump’s GOP has rewritten that to “The Ends Justify the Means.”
Jew-hate is particularly vicious online
I live with anti-Semitism. My father was a Jew, my Mother a Baptist and in the twisted mind of Jew-haters, I am an object of hate. I am staying away from Twitter for a while. That seems to be the epicenter hatred at the moment. Facebook is running a close second place.
I promote my articles on social media which put me forward as a target online for cruel comments and threats. My content is largely political, which is waving a red flag at the keyboard Jew-haters.
Let me give you a glimpse of my online communications. “You’re a dirty Jew. All Jews must die. You belong in an oven. Go to Israel; you’re not an American. America is for whites and you’re not white.”
These epithets are commonplace online. I stopped reporting them on Facebook. The social media giant founded by a Member of the Tribe has the policy that Jew-hate is free speech. In a great contradiction, don’t try to post the term “all men are pigs,” on Facebook even in jest. The Facebook bots will nail you with a thirty-day ban for hate speech.
Here is the truly sad part. The ethnic slurs and hate come from the far-left, as well as the far right. I support Israel’s right to exist. Like many who live in Israel, I find the occupation reprehensible. I also understand the Palestinians dedicate themselves to killing every Jew in Israel. They are by no means looking for peaceful co-existence. They have not renounced pushing Israel into the sea. I cannot sign on to more dead Jews.
That makes me a target for the hard left who have taken up the cause for Palestinian rights at the expense of Israel’s existence.
I had a Bernie supporting lefty the other day on twitter tell me that I should die because of my support for Israel. Usually, I block the anti-Semites and move on. This time, I engaged him and reminded him Bernie is a Jew. “Not really,” was his reply. Later on, he said Bernie was an enlightened Jew, meaning he did not support Israel.
I sent him a link to Bernie’s voting record on military aid to Israel. I did not have to block him; he blocked me.
Will the election fix the USA?
Democrats are doing a happy dance today in anticipation of a blue-wave tomorrow. A GOP friend in Washington gave me access to internal polling by the GOP that indicates they will lose the House of Representatives, but the Democrats will have only a five-seat majority. Their polling shows more of a ripple than the 40 seat wave Democrats are hoping for, but I’ll take it.
Democrats can put the brakes on Trumps ultra-Nationalism with control of the House. I am sure the House will embroil the Trump Administration in Congressional Investigations. That is the proper role of Congress, and partisanship has prevented Congress from doing its oversight duties.
None of this guarantees a fix for America. Have we heard the Administration, the Congress, or the Democratic Party pledge to go after hate-groups? No, we have not. The parties are exploiting the hate, and not offering any solutions.
Despite it all, I have great hope for America. I do because there are a lot of good people in our land. They are kind, seek justice, and oppose hate. The toxic environment in Washington pushes them aside, but there is a new movement afoot called “Governing for the Common Good.” I am proud to say I am part of this nascent movement, which looks beyond party doctrines and asks, “what is best for the many?”
The election tomorrow won’t fix us, but I have confidence we will fix ourselves, and the politicians will follow. They always do.
