I'm a paid subscriber and generally appreciate Steve's unflinching take on politics, and the bald-faced evil now catching fire everywhere. But I'm not buying any of this religious claptrap now deployed to obscure our understanding or response to our current state of crisis. There is no God, and in fact "God" is a huge part of the problem. I'm not willing to clench my jaw anymore & just endure this ridiculous superstition anymore just to be polite.
If you would like to remove God from the equation, then look at the problem squarely and follow the universal Golden Rule: Treat others as you would like to be treated. Be neighborly - to the folks/countries next door.
It may be, Michelle, that the only really good thing that has fallen out of the religious obsession is the Golden Rule. Yes, you can lose all of it and just keep the Golden Rule, apply it and you have everything you need. Good for you.
Baha’ì: “Blessed is who prefers his brother to himself” (Bahà’u’llàh tablets – 19th century).
Buddhism: “Whatever is disagreeable to yourself, do not do unto others” (The Buddha, Udana-Varga 5.18 – 6th century BC).
Confucianism: “Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you” (Confucius, Analects 15.23 – 5th century BC).
Christianity: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Gospel of Matthew 22, 36-40 – 1st century CE).
Judaism: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow-man. This is the entire Law, all the rest is commentary” (Talmud, Shabbat 3id – 16th century BC).
Gandhi: “To see the universal and all-pervading Spirit of Truth face to face, one must be able to love the meanest of all creation as oneself” (translated from: Il mio credo, il mio pensiero, Newton Compton, Rome 1992, page 70 – 20th century).
Jainism: “In happiness and sorrow, in joy and in pain, we should consider every creature as we consider ourselves” (Mahavira, 24th Tirthankara – 6th century BC).
Judaism: “Never do to anyone else anything that you would not want someone to do to you” (Tobias 4, 15 – 3rd century BC).
Hinduism: “This is the sum of duty. Do not unto others that which would cause you pain if done to you” (Mahabharata 5, 1517 – 15th century BC).
Islam: “None of you will believe until you love for your brother what you love for yourself” (Hadith 13, The Forty Hadith of Imam Nawawi – 7th century).
Native Americans: “Respect for every form of life is the foundation”(The Big Law of Peace– 16th century).
Plato: “I can do to others what I’d like them to do to me” (5th century BC).
Yoruba wise saying (West Africa): “If somebody stings a bird with a sharp stick, should be first try it on himself and realise how badly it hurts”.
Seneca: “Treat your inferiors as you would be treated by your betters” (Letter 47 11 – 1st century).
Shintoism: “Be charitable to all beings, love is the representation of God” (approximately 500 CE: Ko-ji-ki Hachiman Kasuga – 8th century BC)
Sikhism: “I am a stranger to no one, and no one is a stranger to me. Indeed, I am a friend to all” (Guru Granth Sahib, religious scripture of Sikhism, p. 1299 – 15th century).
Voltaire: “Put yourself in the other person's shoes” (Letters on the English, n.42).
Zoroastrianism: “Do not do to others what is harmful for yourself” (Shayast-na-Shayast 13, 29 – between 18 and 15 century BC).
Saying war, cruelty and suffering are all “god’s will,” simply seeks to absolve humans from responsibility for their own actions. God and religion, man-made relics of infantile needs to be protected from nature and our vulnerability in the world, is the root of the worst suffering, tribalism and evil in the world. If there really is a god such as the jealous, vengeful god in the bible, you can keep him. I’ll take my chances in hell.
In the Name of God was a book I read MANY years ago. Given to me by a devout Catholic . And, in the ensuing 20+ years I’ve seen this played out a hundred times 100 times. I couldn’t find the original author upon looking. But the message is the same.
There’s a poem ,a written piece about Spirituality vs Religion , I wish the elegance to add a snap shot but ...and this is NOT a defense comment. It’s truth is evident , both sides will use -but principle is hard to live. The haves and the have nots are both capable of greatness of principles , how interpreted is too often how they live it.
Steve sums up frequently , so eloquently <<sigh >> magic wand? Nope , reality . He DOES have a wealth of experience to bring to us.
What works? Certainly centuries of war conclude something and yet...certainly wealth concludes it’s a key and yet...certainly religion (perhaps the bloodiest) also cures what ails...BUT!!!! ...amongst those aforementioned walks ...some real ends that met the good MEANS.
So....perhaps it’s THE WALK.
Walk to the voters box folks, take a friend, research what reality works and who is doing’ what WALK.
As we have been saying — the signs of this emerging World War are nearly as obvious as a rising sun. There have been too many wannabe strongmen, true dictators and hate mongers sprinkled in positions of power throughout the world. This rancid mix has been brewing the shit storm the world is about to endure for quite a while.
Nearly the entire republican party (90%) in the United States — which culminated in America's own Hitlarian wannabe dictator who has done 4 years of horrific damage to the nation and world, and continues to damage it as he is being kept on the stage and being protected and facilitated by the republican party.
Divisive and horrific "leadership" by the Israeli leader for a very long time; while I support what Israel is doing in defense of itself make no mistake that BiBi should be sharing a prison cell with the American Orange Adolf.
In Iran we went from having an accord to end their nuclear weapon production to Orange Adolf destroying that deal with the help of republicans. If the primary beneficiary of the deal with Iran to NOT build nuclear weapons was the World at large, the direct beneficiary was Israel. Iran would like nothing more than to erase Israel from the map and this deal helped to prevent that. Republicans screaming about support for Israel are duplicitous because they have done more to endanger Israel in recent years than most other political movement in the world. Now, Iran is directly involved as they too were given free reign by Trump and others to do whatever they wanted in preparation for this moment.
In Russia, Putin has been as sick, twisted and demented as Stalin, and just as dangerous. He has begun the process of trying to return the world to Cold War and he has succeeded in making it a hot war with Ukraine. My view is that from 2017 to 2021, Vladimir Putin was the defacto president of the United States and he completely and fully owns and operated at least 80% of the republican party and its elected officials from coast to coast.
In China, Xi has consolidated power and would like nothing more than to take Taiwan out. The only thing stopping him is the threat of direct conflict with the United States. Still, he spent 2017 to 2021 with Orange Adolf's blessing to position himself in his vision for a new world order with Putin.
North Korea — always a problem — has advanced their own weaponization once more due to having 4 years of being given permission by Orange Adolf and republicans. They put South Korea, Japan, and Australia under direct threat every day.
There are things happening in other parts of the world too that are boiling. Republicans want to believe isolationism is somehow going to protect us. It wont because this is not 1789. It doesn't take an enemy of anykind 6 weeks to get here. And the attack does not have to be here to impact every American. Too many American's just don't get that. And there are even too many on the left who think it can all go away with diplomacy. Sometimes, force is needed. Both positions are naive.
The world is nuanced and we need professionals, not amateurs. Donald Trump is not only an amateur but he is also one of them. He and the republican party is aligned with our enemies — make no mistake. This is why electing Democrats is key — why we cannot fall for the divide and conquer and stay home on election day or vote for a third party plant by republicans and Putin like what happened in 2016 (and perhaps even 2000). No — wee have to ask and expect more from ourselves.
The world is on the cusp of something horrible. We alone can fix it — and it starts with our votes.
As usual, Steve, totally on point. We have been sold down the river by the owners of this country. The people, as George Carlin asserted years ago, control everything. It is as always about money and power. They pay the politicians and lobbyists to mislead the public into believing that we have some control. Isn’t it interesting that everything in the last 40 years has brought us to a House of Representatives who are only capable of putting up a candidate for Speaker the sided with the insurrection.
I’m not a leftist schmuck. But we have been sold out for cheap and by evil and vicious assholes
When the oppressed become the oppressors they often become blind. Ask an Israeli, or for that matter a Jew, if he has his foot on the neck of Palestinians and he will squirm and shift and obfuscate and not answer or maybe say no. It is very unlikely he would say yes. So, in that environment, political forces of greater or lessor benevolence will take charge and the foot can become heavier. Such as it is since Netanyahu came on the scene, nothing less than belligerent about Palestinians. He fights against the idea of the so-called Two State Solution, which of course is the only solution. A free-standing Palestinian state means the boot off the neck and some level of equality. Netanyahu, pre-occupied with covering his evil ass, left Israel vulnerable to attack from people who would have had no beginning were it not for the very kind of oppression that has so often and in so many terrible ways happened to Jews so why are they doing it to others and what is it going to take to make them stop? Clean up that stupid fragmented government with its shotgun alliances and find a way to leech the belligerence out of its players. My guess is the every-man, every-woman Israelis would just as soon live in peace and keep their boots to themselves if their weird governments would just let them.
And don’t forget how Netanyahu has made alliances with the religious fundamentalists in Israel who, like the Taliban and American fundamentalist nuts would take us backwards a hundred, or a thousand years.
Israeli politics began to shift with the fall of the Soviet Union. Ultra-Orthodox Jews from Eastern Europe began to emigrate. Likud and other parties on the Israeli right began to recruit them. That swung the balance from Labor and it's coalition to Likud and it's coalition.
Steve thank you for bringing us back to Lincoln and the 2nd inaugural. We will make it through. We will be changed. We need to rebuild the trust in our nation and in each other. The next few years will be some of the worst we may see but we need to remain focused
It’s a combination of faith and vision of the world we want that will give us the impetus.
I also think back to the early 1940s and Bretton Woods. WWII was raging in Europe and Asia, and a group came together to plan the post war years. We have to think about the immediate challenges and what we want for the future.
What happened in Israel is a lesson for Americans. Netanyahu was indicted for several crimes, there was no mechanism to stop him from running for office, so he did, and won, and fully intended to use the position to rid himself of accountability for his crimes. Sound familiar? Then, oh dear! Lo and behold! He chose the most extreme coalition to align himself with to get what he needed to stay out of the courts and jail. Never mind he was destroying a democracy, collateral damage there. We know now Netanyahu was warned he was putting the country at great risk, no matter, just so he was saved. Watch out America.
Thank you. No one knows how the current problems in the Middle East will end. The Palestinian people certainly deserve a homeland. To make that happen successfully, however, we need to be honest about the inability of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas to provide a functioning democratic government for their people. Netanyahu left Hamas alone in Gaza and this is what they did. The other Arab nations and Iran need to step up and do more than throw some money at terrorists and train them to kill Jews. Are they serious enough about arriving at a workable solution? Time will tell.
I appreciate your thoughts Carol, but Netanyahu did no such thing as “leave them alone”, and I have family and friends in Israel- and one of my extended family has been kidnapped. I am in huge support of Israel. But This disaster is a failed leadership issue- from many parts of the world. It is why we are on the brink of world-hell. We must understand and demand more of our leaders. And not accept them with all their faults, prejudices, and hate. Real Leadership reaches for higher lives for all humanity. That is not Netanyahu’s being. Nor that of so many of our world leaders. We don’t demand it from them.
Oh, and the Israeli's KNEW who they were voting for, they KNEW Netanyahu. They trusted him even though they knew he was cruel and corrupt. Trump hasn't hidden any of this from Americans. He has made it very clear he's running for retribution and to be an autocrat. WAKE UP!
The two, along with several other “MAGAs” are what some call nihilists, but I’d categorize as “upside downers.” Fascism uses the technique to reach a certain ignorant targets with “anti-... (fill in the blank). Gaslighting was, and is, another similar linguistic technique. They espouse negativity as their strategy. There’s a long list of republicans who’ve been tossing this swill as if it was true.
"Humans can’t stop killing and hating as much as they can’t stop dreaming and loving." Women and men may be equals when it comes to hate, but the vast majority of all killing has been, and is, done by men. This needs to be discussed and addressed instead of hidden behind the generic "humans". It is not biological nor is it inevitable, and yes, we have way too many guns in the US. Much of the hatred and killing has been, and is, done under the guise of organized religion which is one reason many politicians want to combine politics and religion to cover their hatred and greed. Religion is the best excuse because who can question god. While some killing is legally and morally justified (self-defense, war, etc.) it's still a wound that never heals. The US is a very young country and our borders were not "created" by foreign colonizers. We really cannot relate to the thousands of years of grievance and hatred that exist among some groups of people even though our ancestors suffered through history. I'm not condoning the hatred, but recognizing the complexity.
I believe in Vonnegut’s Church of God the Utterly indifferent. There is no being who cares who wins wars or football games. By claiming God’s will, mankind is given license to hate those with different, or no beliefs. Humankind is not special, and there is no given that we as a species will survive. Having said that, the US has a moral obligation to attempt to end this war sooner, rather than later, minimizing the loss of life, but also ending the suffering of innocent Palestinians and Israelis. We also have a moral obligation to do much more, in other places, but this conversation is focused on the Middle East.
Steve, though jarring, there is a some hope. Your closing words were prescient: “We are at a dangerous hour. It is made more dangerous by the collapse of character across the whole of the elected leadership of the Republican Congress.”
Thank you for reminding us of Lincoln's words. You also mentioned the passing of the "Greatest Generation". My father and the millions of others who served in WWII are spinning in their graves at the sight of America and the world in 2023. Those of us who study history must pass the lessons on to those who don't know. It's our turn to defend democracy like they did.
Steve. Is the man you spoke to a deeply religious person? His comment that it's too late sounds like a white Christian evangelist, Trump advocate who believes that Trump will bring on, or has brought on the end of the world otherwise known as the Apocalypse. That belief has been around since Trump descended the escalator in 2015 and has caused us so much pain and suffering as a nation. Yes, we are in a pretty difficult place. Israel cannot move forward without first eliminating Hamas and any others whose sole purpose in life is to destroy Israel. Once the Israeli's do that, my hope like yours is to tear down that fence, help the Palestinians find a new legal government, feed them and help them rebuild. However, what are the Russians and Chinese doing with warships in the area? Supporting Iran? As long as the US does not attack Iran there will be no problem. Iran would be crazy (which they are not) to attack a US warship or order an attack on Israel. Israel should immediately stop the killing of Palestinians in the West Bank and begin the removal of settlements there. Then and only then can Israel live in peace. The ultra-orthodox who are pressing for war and more settlements whose children are not required to serve in the military seem perfectly happy to allow normal Israelis to serve and die for them. That obviously has to stop.
I don't agree that the man Steve talked with "sounds like a white Christian evangelist" or a "Trump advocate." Steve described him as "thoughtful" though pessimistic, and the conversation went deep. (Even though their ideas are abhorrent to me, right-wing Christian evangelists aren't pessimists--they seem, rather smugly, to assume that they and their flocks will be "saved" on Judgment Day while the rest are damned. Thus they see the Apocalypse as a desirable good, bringing on the Second Coming, the resurrection of the dead, etc.) I suspect the man Steve Schmidt spoke with is fearful that our country is already too divided to heal. I worry that this may be true, though I still hope it isn't. Albeit it is often vocal and aggressive, the radical Christian right isn't a majority in most of the U.S. They need to develop humility--and be sharply reined in, both by more traditional Christians and by our courts. This is why it's vital for federal and state governments--and especially our courts of law--to remain (or become?) rigorous secular Constitutionalists. The idea of religious freedom, including the freedom NOT to be religious, is part of our historic heritage, to be treasured and protected.
It is true that when Israel became independent, it was agreed that yeshiva students would be exempted from military service; however, at the time, this applied to only a few hundred young men. Today the ultra-Orthodox constitute 13.5% of Israeli society, and 18% among those of conscription age.
I'm a paid subscriber and generally appreciate Steve's unflinching take on politics, and the bald-faced evil now catching fire everywhere. But I'm not buying any of this religious claptrap now deployed to obscure our understanding or response to our current state of crisis. There is no God, and in fact "God" is a huge part of the problem. I'm not willing to clench my jaw anymore & just endure this ridiculous superstition anymore just to be polite.
If you would like to remove God from the equation, then look at the problem squarely and follow the universal Golden Rule: Treat others as you would like to be treated. Be neighborly - to the folks/countries next door.
It may be, Michelle, that the only really good thing that has fallen out of the religious obsession is the Golden Rule. Yes, you can lose all of it and just keep the Golden Rule, apply it and you have everything you need. Good for you.
Indeed, “stolen” by others:
Baha’ì: “Blessed is who prefers his brother to himself” (Bahà’u’llàh tablets – 19th century).
Buddhism: “Whatever is disagreeable to yourself, do not do unto others” (The Buddha, Udana-Varga 5.18 – 6th century BC).
Confucianism: “Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you” (Confucius, Analects 15.23 – 5th century BC).
Christianity: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Gospel of Matthew 22, 36-40 – 1st century CE).
Judaism: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow-man. This is the entire Law, all the rest is commentary” (Talmud, Shabbat 3id – 16th century BC).
Gandhi: “To see the universal and all-pervading Spirit of Truth face to face, one must be able to love the meanest of all creation as oneself” (translated from: Il mio credo, il mio pensiero, Newton Compton, Rome 1992, page 70 – 20th century).
Jainism: “In happiness and sorrow, in joy and in pain, we should consider every creature as we consider ourselves” (Mahavira, 24th Tirthankara – 6th century BC).
Judaism: “Never do to anyone else anything that you would not want someone to do to you” (Tobias 4, 15 – 3rd century BC).
Hinduism: “This is the sum of duty. Do not unto others that which would cause you pain if done to you” (Mahabharata 5, 1517 – 15th century BC).
Islam: “None of you will believe until you love for your brother what you love for yourself” (Hadith 13, The Forty Hadith of Imam Nawawi – 7th century).
Native Americans: “Respect for every form of life is the foundation”(The Big Law of Peace– 16th century).
Plato: “I can do to others what I’d like them to do to me” (5th century BC).
Yoruba wise saying (West Africa): “If somebody stings a bird with a sharp stick, should be first try it on himself and realise how badly it hurts”.
Seneca: “Treat your inferiors as you would be treated by your betters” (Letter 47 11 – 1st century).
Shintoism: “Be charitable to all beings, love is the representation of God” (approximately 500 CE: Ko-ji-ki Hachiman Kasuga – 8th century BC)
Sikhism: “I am a stranger to no one, and no one is a stranger to me. Indeed, I am a friend to all” (Guru Granth Sahib, religious scripture of Sikhism, p. 1299 – 15th century).
Voltaire: “Put yourself in the other person's shoes” (Letters on the English, n.42).
Zoroastrianism: “Do not do to others what is harmful for yourself” (Shayast-na-Shayast 13, 29 – between 18 and 15 century BC).
Now if we could only practice what we, collectively, preach.
Well said. Thank you.
Thank you JWO. I'm old, but not THAT old!
LOL!
Saying war, cruelty and suffering are all “god’s will,” simply seeks to absolve humans from responsibility for their own actions. God and religion, man-made relics of infantile needs to be protected from nature and our vulnerability in the world, is the root of the worst suffering, tribalism and evil in the world. If there really is a god such as the jealous, vengeful god in the bible, you can keep him. I’ll take my chances in hell.
In the Name of God was a book I read MANY years ago. Given to me by a devout Catholic . And, in the ensuing 20+ years I’ve seen this played out a hundred times 100 times. I couldn’t find the original author upon looking. But the message is the same.
There’s a poem ,a written piece about Spirituality vs Religion , I wish the elegance to add a snap shot but ...and this is NOT a defense comment. It’s truth is evident , both sides will use -but principle is hard to live. The haves and the have nots are both capable of greatness of principles , how interpreted is too often how they live it.
Steve sums up frequently , so eloquently <<sigh >> magic wand? Nope , reality . He DOES have a wealth of experience to bring to us.
What works? Certainly centuries of war conclude something and yet...certainly wealth concludes it’s a key and yet...certainly religion (perhaps the bloodiest) also cures what ails...BUT!!!! ...amongst those aforementioned walks ...some real ends that met the good MEANS.
So....perhaps it’s THE WALK.
Walk to the voters box folks, take a friend, research what reality works and who is doing’ what WALK.
💙💙VOTE ALL THE COMPLICIT OUT💙💙
As we have been saying — the signs of this emerging World War are nearly as obvious as a rising sun. There have been too many wannabe strongmen, true dictators and hate mongers sprinkled in positions of power throughout the world. This rancid mix has been brewing the shit storm the world is about to endure for quite a while.
Nearly the entire republican party (90%) in the United States — which culminated in America's own Hitlarian wannabe dictator who has done 4 years of horrific damage to the nation and world, and continues to damage it as he is being kept on the stage and being protected and facilitated by the republican party.
Divisive and horrific "leadership" by the Israeli leader for a very long time; while I support what Israel is doing in defense of itself make no mistake that BiBi should be sharing a prison cell with the American Orange Adolf.
In Iran we went from having an accord to end their nuclear weapon production to Orange Adolf destroying that deal with the help of republicans. If the primary beneficiary of the deal with Iran to NOT build nuclear weapons was the World at large, the direct beneficiary was Israel. Iran would like nothing more than to erase Israel from the map and this deal helped to prevent that. Republicans screaming about support for Israel are duplicitous because they have done more to endanger Israel in recent years than most other political movement in the world. Now, Iran is directly involved as they too were given free reign by Trump and others to do whatever they wanted in preparation for this moment.
In Russia, Putin has been as sick, twisted and demented as Stalin, and just as dangerous. He has begun the process of trying to return the world to Cold War and he has succeeded in making it a hot war with Ukraine. My view is that from 2017 to 2021, Vladimir Putin was the defacto president of the United States and he completely and fully owns and operated at least 80% of the republican party and its elected officials from coast to coast.
In China, Xi has consolidated power and would like nothing more than to take Taiwan out. The only thing stopping him is the threat of direct conflict with the United States. Still, he spent 2017 to 2021 with Orange Adolf's blessing to position himself in his vision for a new world order with Putin.
North Korea — always a problem — has advanced their own weaponization once more due to having 4 years of being given permission by Orange Adolf and republicans. They put South Korea, Japan, and Australia under direct threat every day.
There are things happening in other parts of the world too that are boiling. Republicans want to believe isolationism is somehow going to protect us. It wont because this is not 1789. It doesn't take an enemy of anykind 6 weeks to get here. And the attack does not have to be here to impact every American. Too many American's just don't get that. And there are even too many on the left who think it can all go away with diplomacy. Sometimes, force is needed. Both positions are naive.
The world is nuanced and we need professionals, not amateurs. Donald Trump is not only an amateur but he is also one of them. He and the republican party is aligned with our enemies — make no mistake. This is why electing Democrats is key — why we cannot fall for the divide and conquer and stay home on election day or vote for a third party plant by republicans and Putin like what happened in 2016 (and perhaps even 2000). No — wee have to ask and expect more from ourselves.
The world is on the cusp of something horrible. We alone can fix it — and it starts with our votes.
Bravo, Andre! Bravo.
💯 Andre
Strongly agree.
As usual, Steve, totally on point. We have been sold down the river by the owners of this country. The people, as George Carlin asserted years ago, control everything. It is as always about money and power. They pay the politicians and lobbyists to mislead the public into believing that we have some control. Isn’t it interesting that everything in the last 40 years has brought us to a House of Representatives who are only capable of putting up a candidate for Speaker the sided with the insurrection.
I’m not a leftist schmuck. But we have been sold out for cheap and by evil and vicious assholes
I apologize for my anger.
No apology needed! Many of us feel the same way.
Spot on.
When the oppressed become the oppressors they often become blind. Ask an Israeli, or for that matter a Jew, if he has his foot on the neck of Palestinians and he will squirm and shift and obfuscate and not answer or maybe say no. It is very unlikely he would say yes. So, in that environment, political forces of greater or lessor benevolence will take charge and the foot can become heavier. Such as it is since Netanyahu came on the scene, nothing less than belligerent about Palestinians. He fights against the idea of the so-called Two State Solution, which of course is the only solution. A free-standing Palestinian state means the boot off the neck and some level of equality. Netanyahu, pre-occupied with covering his evil ass, left Israel vulnerable to attack from people who would have had no beginning were it not for the very kind of oppression that has so often and in so many terrible ways happened to Jews so why are they doing it to others and what is it going to take to make them stop? Clean up that stupid fragmented government with its shotgun alliances and find a way to leech the belligerence out of its players. My guess is the every-man, every-woman Israelis would just as soon live in peace and keep their boots to themselves if their weird governments would just let them.
And don’t forget how Netanyahu has made alliances with the religious fundamentalists in Israel who, like the Taliban and American fundamentalist nuts would take us backwards a hundred, or a thousand years.
Israeli politics began to shift with the fall of the Soviet Union. Ultra-Orthodox Jews from Eastern Europe began to emigrate. Likud and other parties on the Israeli right began to recruit them. That swung the balance from Labor and it's coalition to Likud and it's coalition.
SPOT Fing ON!
Steve thank you for bringing us back to Lincoln and the 2nd inaugural. We will make it through. We will be changed. We need to rebuild the trust in our nation and in each other. The next few years will be some of the worst we may see but we need to remain focused
It’s a combination of faith and vision of the world we want that will give us the impetus.
I also think back to the early 1940s and Bretton Woods. WWII was raging in Europe and Asia, and a group came together to plan the post war years. We have to think about the immediate challenges and what we want for the future.
I would love to know more details about that conversation you had with that man and why he believes that we have passed the point of no return.
I love this space where we are all free to share our thoughts without repercussions. Peace to all.
What happened in Israel is a lesson for Americans. Netanyahu was indicted for several crimes, there was no mechanism to stop him from running for office, so he did, and won, and fully intended to use the position to rid himself of accountability for his crimes. Sound familiar? Then, oh dear! Lo and behold! He chose the most extreme coalition to align himself with to get what he needed to stay out of the courts and jail. Never mind he was destroying a democracy, collateral damage there. We know now Netanyahu was warned he was putting the country at great risk, no matter, just so he was saved. Watch out America.
Thank you. No one knows how the current problems in the Middle East will end. The Palestinian people certainly deserve a homeland. To make that happen successfully, however, we need to be honest about the inability of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas to provide a functioning democratic government for their people. Netanyahu left Hamas alone in Gaza and this is what they did. The other Arab nations and Iran need to step up and do more than throw some money at terrorists and train them to kill Jews. Are they serious enough about arriving at a workable solution? Time will tell.
I appreciate your thoughts Carol, but Netanyahu did no such thing as “leave them alone”, and I have family and friends in Israel- and one of my extended family has been kidnapped. I am in huge support of Israel. But This disaster is a failed leadership issue- from many parts of the world. It is why we are on the brink of world-hell. We must understand and demand more of our leaders. And not accept them with all their faults, prejudices, and hate. Real Leadership reaches for higher lives for all humanity. That is not Netanyahu’s being. Nor that of so many of our world leaders. We don’t demand it from them.
Bibi thought that he could buy off Hamas. It blew up in his face.
Oh, and the Israeli's KNEW who they were voting for, they KNEW Netanyahu. They trusted him even though they knew he was cruel and corrupt. Trump hasn't hidden any of this from Americans. He has made it very clear he's running for retribution and to be an autocrat. WAKE UP!
The two, along with several other “MAGAs” are what some call nihilists, but I’d categorize as “upside downers.” Fascism uses the technique to reach a certain ignorant targets with “anti-... (fill in the blank). Gaslighting was, and is, another similar linguistic technique. They espouse negativity as their strategy. There’s a long list of republicans who’ve been tossing this swill as if it was true.
"Humans can’t stop killing and hating as much as they can’t stop dreaming and loving." Women and men may be equals when it comes to hate, but the vast majority of all killing has been, and is, done by men. This needs to be discussed and addressed instead of hidden behind the generic "humans". It is not biological nor is it inevitable, and yes, we have way too many guns in the US. Much of the hatred and killing has been, and is, done under the guise of organized religion which is one reason many politicians want to combine politics and religion to cover their hatred and greed. Religion is the best excuse because who can question god. While some killing is legally and morally justified (self-defense, war, etc.) it's still a wound that never heals. The US is a very young country and our borders were not "created" by foreign colonizers. We really cannot relate to the thousands of years of grievance and hatred that exist among some groups of people even though our ancestors suffered through history. I'm not condoning the hatred, but recognizing the complexity.
I believe in Vonnegut’s Church of God the Utterly indifferent. There is no being who cares who wins wars or football games. By claiming God’s will, mankind is given license to hate those with different, or no beliefs. Humankind is not special, and there is no given that we as a species will survive. Having said that, the US has a moral obligation to attempt to end this war sooner, rather than later, minimizing the loss of life, but also ending the suffering of innocent Palestinians and Israelis. We also have a moral obligation to do much more, in other places, but this conversation is focused on the Middle East.
Steve, though jarring, there is a some hope. Your closing words were prescient: “We are at a dangerous hour. It is made more dangerous by the collapse of character across the whole of the elected leadership of the Republican Congress.”
Thank you for reminding us of Lincoln's words. You also mentioned the passing of the "Greatest Generation". My father and the millions of others who served in WWII are spinning in their graves at the sight of America and the world in 2023. Those of us who study history must pass the lessons on to those who don't know. It's our turn to defend democracy like they did.
Steve. Is the man you spoke to a deeply religious person? His comment that it's too late sounds like a white Christian evangelist, Trump advocate who believes that Trump will bring on, or has brought on the end of the world otherwise known as the Apocalypse. That belief has been around since Trump descended the escalator in 2015 and has caused us so much pain and suffering as a nation. Yes, we are in a pretty difficult place. Israel cannot move forward without first eliminating Hamas and any others whose sole purpose in life is to destroy Israel. Once the Israeli's do that, my hope like yours is to tear down that fence, help the Palestinians find a new legal government, feed them and help them rebuild. However, what are the Russians and Chinese doing with warships in the area? Supporting Iran? As long as the US does not attack Iran there will be no problem. Iran would be crazy (which they are not) to attack a US warship or order an attack on Israel. Israel should immediately stop the killing of Palestinians in the West Bank and begin the removal of settlements there. Then and only then can Israel live in peace. The ultra-orthodox who are pressing for war and more settlements whose children are not required to serve in the military seem perfectly happy to allow normal Israelis to serve and die for them. That obviously has to stop.
I don't agree that the man Steve talked with "sounds like a white Christian evangelist" or a "Trump advocate." Steve described him as "thoughtful" though pessimistic, and the conversation went deep. (Even though their ideas are abhorrent to me, right-wing Christian evangelists aren't pessimists--they seem, rather smugly, to assume that they and their flocks will be "saved" on Judgment Day while the rest are damned. Thus they see the Apocalypse as a desirable good, bringing on the Second Coming, the resurrection of the dead, etc.) I suspect the man Steve Schmidt spoke with is fearful that our country is already too divided to heal. I worry that this may be true, though I still hope it isn't. Albeit it is often vocal and aggressive, the radical Christian right isn't a majority in most of the U.S. They need to develop humility--and be sharply reined in, both by more traditional Christians and by our courts. This is why it's vital for federal and state governments--and especially our courts of law--to remain (or become?) rigorous secular Constitutionalists. The idea of religious freedom, including the freedom NOT to be religious, is part of our historic heritage, to be treasured and protected.
The fact that the ultra-Orthodox are exempt from military services is bullshit.
This is from the Israel Democracy Institute:
It is true that when Israel became independent, it was agreed that yeshiva students would be exempted from military service; however, at the time, this applied to only a few hundred young men. Today the ultra-Orthodox constitute 13.5% of Israeli society, and 18% among those of conscription age.