There is a Yiddish word that describes how I feel when former students take discussions started in class and extend and elaborate on them: “kvelling.” The closest English translation is probably “taking extreme pride in something.”
I found myself “kvelling” when Matt Greenwood, a former student, contacted me about a blog he was launching; he calls it “Politicology” (which is, I admit, a mouthful). Why the name?
I named this blog Politicology because it will focus on political theories. Living in a time when trust in journalism is at an all-time low, and when the very language of political discourse has become barriers to civil and fruitful conversations, I feel political theorists have much to contribute.
Matt proposes to address issues of media literacy and the various attempts underway to explain American polarization–as he puts it, to “get to the core ideological differences underlying the controversies of our day.”
As stated in the Politicology mission statement the approach taken in this blog is that of being evidence-driven, non-partisan, and objective. However, it does not make one partisan to comment on how one party breaks democratic norms with greater intent and regularity than another. In fact, it would be irresponsible to disregard truth in the pursuit of balance and false equivalency.
Unlike this blog, which peppers your email in-boxes with daily rants, Matt proposes to post a thoughtful disputation once a month. I encourage you to visit.
Matt was certainly one of my better students, but I have been surprised and gratified by the recent enthusiasm of undergraduate students for political philosophy–and by their engagement with the political system. Our Student Services counselors tell me that the number of graduate students focusing on public policy has also increased substantially.
The apparent reason for these extremely positive changes in student behavior is concern over the democratic institutions of our country–and a recognition of the dangers posed by ignorance and racial and religious animosities.
A few years ago, I developed a class in political philosophy titled “Individual Rights and The Common Good.” It was an exploration of the roots of American constitutionalism, and the inevitable conflict between individual liberty and what the Founders called “popular passions.” It was originally offered every other year, and until last year, I think the largest enrollment was 15 or so. (It isn’t a required class.)
I’m teaching it again this year, and I have 25 students. Not only that, they are engaged–class discussions are lively, and–importantly–civil; and students “get into” the readings, which begin with Aristotle, and go through Locke, Mill and other Enlightenment figures, and include some pretty dense contemporary writers, including Rawls and his critics, before we consider how that philosophy applies to current constitutional debates.
If we can just keep the ship of state afloat until this generation takes over, I think we’ll be fine.
Go take a look at my former student’s blog!
“Individual Rights And The Common Good”; isn’t that the very basis of civics stated in plain English?
Kvelling could be explained as “coloring outside the lines”; a term I love for extending and elaborating on an issue. Kvelling is something Trump will never understand but his level of kvetching has no bounds. He has become a soothsayer, reading his future in the entrails of his fallen enemies (sorry, I just watched the movie “The Robe” and latched onto that quote to paraphrase). Media literacy is not possible without first having English literacy and while commenters on this blog are literate in English; the majority of responses I see to political posts on Facebook appear to be written by middle school dropouts who failed English grammar. “Politicology” may be a mouthful but is immediately understandable. It explains the lack of political knowledge evidenced by such as my Trump supporting neighbors to whom I am no longer visible to their naked eyes.
American polarization is at a dangerous level; that danger level has risen dramatically in the past week as the Republican Senate took their level of disregarding democracy, Rule of Law and the entire Constitution was thrown out with the facts put before them in the Impeachment Trial. President Obama’s book, “The Audacity Of Hope”, which was the hope of those who elected him twice, has been lost in the swamp waters of the Trump administration. This is the essence of “Continuing Important Conversations”; kvelling by the voters beyond the limits of political party lines.
Sheila, you might think about adding Ronald Dworkin’s “Justice for Hedgehogs” to the reading list for your class.
I’m just gratified that someone out there is reading Aristotle, Hobbs, and Locke, mainstays of my youth.
Signed up for this new blog POLITICOLOGY and read the piece on Fascism. Excellent! Marv, as someone who has studies Nazi Germany, please go read that piece too and let us know what you think. WOW!
This emphasis on classical Political Science was part of degree requirements when I was at Earlham (alas – too long ago) Political Philosophy I and II and American Political Thought were solid grounding in the discipline. Aristotle to Stalin surely expanded this small town Hoosier’s horizons. It was wonderful. Keep up the good work!
Where are these “democratic institutions?”
In 1949, Albert Einstein wrote:
“Moreover, under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education). It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights.”
It’s only gotten worse since 1949. Einstein wrote this before the MIC took over this country with the CIA followed by the NSA.
AG Barr just told the FBI that there would be no investigations into presidential candidates without his expressed permission.
With a captive and neutered press, and a government that is controlled by a few Oligarchs, where are these democratic institutions who serve the people? Where are the checks and balances of our government? Who holds the tyrants accountable for abusing their power?
In the same, “Why Socialism” article, Einstein discusses the root cause of man’s crisis:
“I have now reached the point where I may indicate briefly what to me constitutes the essence of the crisis of our time. It concerns the relationship of the individual to society. The individual has become more conscious than ever of his dependence upon society. But he does not experience this dependence as a positive asset, as an organic tie, as a protective force, but rather as a threat to his natural rights, or even to his economic existence. Moreover, his position in society is such that the egotistical drives of his make-up are constantly being accentuated, while his social drives, which are by nature weaker, progressively deteriorate.”
https://monthlyreview.org/2009/05/01/why-socialism/
Would it be possible to get a list of reading assignments for your class, “Individual Rights…”? I’m past (way past) wanting to sit in a classroom and a structured learning environment, but I like the learning process. If it’s “kosher”, please post recommended reading for this class. I appreciate your recommendations. Thank you!
I’d like to take a look at your syllabus and read along
A few days ago on Face Book, one of my Friends posted about slammed Socialism lacking luxuries like: under Socialism people lack, toilet paper, electricity, food, clean water and shoes. My retort was in effect I did not realize the people of Western Europe and Japan were suffering from a lack of these essentials. The response “Move there.” I suppose needless to say this “Friend” is a rabid Trumpeter.
We have had the “America Love it or Leave it” types around at least in my memory from the Vietnam Era. There is of course no reasoning or rational discussion to persuade them otherwise. They buy into Obama was born in Kenya, he is a Muslim, etc., Sanders is a Communist.
Todd, good post on Einstein. The Reactionary Right has Ayn Rand and Rush Limbaugh as their thinkers. Limbaugh used a bit of a change from the “KISS ” saying, for Rush it was Keep it Simple for the Stupid.
Cheryl and Gail: Here’s an abbreviated syllabus
Semester and Year: Spring 2020
Number/Title: SPEA-V 408, Individual Rights, Common Goods and Public Policies
Class Number: 25275
Day and Time: M/W 12:00 p.m. – 1:15 p.m.
Location: BS 3014
INSTRUCTOR
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Official course description.
Considers the tension between individual and majoritarian rights in our constitutional system, and the effects of that tension on the formulation of public policy.
Instructor description
The tension between individual and majoritarian rights, between our insistence upon personal autonomy and individual responsibility, on the one hand, and our abiding need to be a part of a cohesive community, on the other, is the enduring challenge of America’s constitutional system. It also continues to be at the very center of debates over political philosophy and public policies. This course will explore that tension, investigate representative flash points of its eruption throughout American history and in today’s society, and consider political theories and ideological movements that speak to that disconnect.
The fundamental issue in political philosophy, as well as in day-to-day governance decisions, is who decides? What sorts of decisions should be made by government; what sorts of decisions should government not be empowered to make? Deciding how much power government should be able to legitimately exercise, and in what policy domains, implicates a number of other questions: what do we mean by “the common good”? How much social consensus about a policy is necessary for the exercise of government power to be considered legitimate? Can public policies encourage the development of a “we” out of Americans increasingly diverse “I’s” without violating fundamental individual rights? How do we understand those rights?
In this course, we will first examine these questions in the abstract, in readings from political philosophers and policy experts who have addressed these issues; with those readings as background, we will then focus upon several divisive issues facing Americans today: from the conflicts between religious liberty and rights for women,
LGBTQ citizens, and racial and religious minorities, to efforts to ban pornography, gambling and other “sinful” behaviors, to land-use conflicts.
REQUIRED COURSE MATERIALS
• The U.S. Constitution (Any publisher or Web)
• Talking Politics? What You Need to Know Before Opening Your Mouth (paperback 2014) Sheila Suess Kennedy, ISBN 9781626163782
• Journal articles and book chapters linked through or posted to the class Canvas site – located under “Files” organized by date
COURSE SCHEDULE
Date Topic / Assignment
January 13 Introduction to class
The instructor will share expectations and format, and introduce the paradigm through which the readings will be considered. The reading for January 15th will be distributed, and criteria for the research paper and presentation will be discussed.
January 15 Aristotle and the Common Good
We will discuss “Aristotle on the Conditions for and Limits of the Common Good.” The readings for the remaining classes of the semester will be distributed or posted to Canvas.
January 20 No Class—Martin Luther King Day
January 22 Aristotle and the Common Good
January 27/29 John Locke and the Social Contract
Class will discuss Chapter IX of the Second Treatise of Civil Government, “Of the Ends of Political Society and Government.”
February 3/5 De Toqueville
We will discuss De Toqueville’s observations “Of Individualism in Democratic Countries.”
February 10/12 John Stuart Mill
The class will review and discuss Mill’s Introduction to “On Liberty”
February 17/19/24/26 Rawls, Nozick and Critics
The class will read excerpts from “A Theory of Justice” and “Anarchy, State and Utopia” and watch videos in which those works are described and discussed. We will also read and consider critiques of both Rawl’s liberalism and Nozick’s libertarianism by Sandel and Feinberg, and general arguments for and against both approaches.
March 2/4 The Bill of Rights
In these classes, we will review the contending approaches to governance suggested by the readings thus far, and trace the influence of the foregoing philosophies on the American founding.
March 9/11 Religion, Culture and Women’s Rights
We will read “Church, State & Women’s Rights” by Martha Nussbaum, and discuss how different cultures have responded to majoritarian religious beliefs about the proper role of women, with a focus on genital mutilation and reproductive rights.
March 16/18 No Classes; Spring Vacation
March 23/25/30 Religious Liberty and LGBTQ Rights
The clash between the equal civil rights of LGBTQ Americans and the religious beliefs of several Christian denominations is reflected in a line of cases leading up to the legal recognition of same-sex marriage. We will review those cases, as well as political efforts, including Indiana’s RFRA, to privilege religious beliefs over LGBTQ civil rights.
April 1/6/8 Sex, Sin and Blasphemy
Despite the libertarianism reflected in the U.S. Bill of Rights, throughout America’s history, states have routinely outlawed “sinful” behaviors. We will discuss these efforts to control so-called “victimless crimes” of gambling, drunkenness, prostitution and drug use, and consider the pros and cons of such laws.
April 13/15 Freedom of Speech/Public Education
We will consider America’s commitment to free speech in an era of online propaganda, and longstanding tensions between claims of religious liberty and the civic mission of the public schools.
April 20/22 Land Use and the Public Good
We will discuss several court cases pitting landowners against laws defining nuisance, outlawing sprawl, taking property for public use, and other regulations intended to promote the public good.
April 27/29/May 4 Student Presentations
Paper will be due on April 27th.
Todd:
“AG Barr just told the FBI that there would be no investigations into presidential candidates without his expressed permission.”
Evidently, Barr is contradicting Trump, or Barr means that investigations of presidential candidates will be conducted ONLY by certain FOREIGN governments and only on candidates hand-picked by Trump.
Today, 12 Russian nationals and 13 Russian intelligence operatives, all 25 accused of crimes against the American election process, announced that they are running for President of the United States on a write-in campaign.
Likewise, Roger Stone, Rudy Giuliani, 143 members of Trump’s administration, 200 recently appointed Federal Judges, and 243 remaining criminals on the FBI most wanted list have filed to run for President on write-in campaigns.
To be on the safe side, I also filed to run for President this morning at the Pinellas County Courthouse in Florida. These days, you can’t be too careful.
When you write-in my name, it’s Larry (with two Rs) and Kaiser (as in Henry J., Kaiser Wilhelm, and Kaiser Permanente Hospitals).
You got my vote, Larry!
I’m still waiting to hear from Julian Assange about the “Russian hackers.” I think Robby Mook & Company are hoping for an Epstein like finish to Julian so they won’t have to explain themselves to the world.
#RussiaGate
Sheila,
So far, I like what I see on his blog, although they claim youth is wasted on the young, he seems to have gathered some knowledge and wisdom through his educational process, which is NOT always the case. By the way, I signed up LOL! I saw a comment about the Nazis and Mussolini’s fascist Government using the Fasces symbol! I always thought that to be fascinating considering it’s displayed in prominence on each side of the speaker’s chair in Congress. I understand why it’s being used as a symbol of authority, a bundle of rods is stronger than one alone, just as the American Eagle symbol we use, 13 arrows (the colonies) are stronger than one alone(Left Talon), and the Olive branch (Right Talon) denoting peace and security. So, we supposedly seek peace while ready to wage war.
That ideal,(Stronger together) really predates the Roman Empire. King Solomon stated this in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 which reads; “Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their hard work. 10 For if one of them falls, the other can help his partner up. But what will happen to the one who falls with no one to help him up?
11 Moreover, if two lie down together, they will stay warm, but how can just one keep warm? 12 And someone may overpower one alone, but two together can take a stand against him. And a threefold cord cannot quickly be torn apart.
Also King Solomon (Lemuel or Agur) stated in Proverbs 27:17; “as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens his friend.”
So the symbolism of one being weak, but together there is strength is a theme throughout Not only in Scripture, but also in man’s government.
Also, in the letter to the Romans, (Romans the 13th chapter) the apostle Paul stated that the Roman government i.e. the superior authorities, were allowed to have their authority by God, and those authorities are not to be opposed i.e. subverted by God’s people. And that that’s why they collect taxes, and also are wearing the sword, they perform tasks in civil society that the tax money is used for, and also met out justice with the sword if necessary, including waging war or, LOL, negotiating peace which usually was extremely short-lived. So, if God’s law is followed, we are to honor those superior authorities until they conflict with our God-given conscience and government veers in a completely opposite direction. (Caesar’s things to Caesar and God’s things to God)
Of course, mankind will pervert to the idea of unity being a strength, because, the unity is only for the chosen few, and they happen to be united against the many. It is not inclusive, it’s exclusive. Democracy cannot now use the Fasces symbolism with a straight face considering how it was used, which was for men to dominate his fellow man to his injury. It’s a symbol that should not have prominent display, just as the Confederate flag which is based on the English Union Jack should not have a prominent display in our congressional halls. If, and I use if skeptically, this country is supposed to be representative of all, these symbols that represented brutal displays of inhumanity should be ripped out of the congressional halls, along with statues representing those with the same ideals as those symbols represent.
It doesn’t matter if you are Christian or Jewish, Muslim or Mormon, fair treatment and equality in a civil society cannot be represented by symbols of barbarism and exclusivity. The scales of justice would be more appropriate, evidence is weighed, facts are on display for the accused, and a decision would be made to by an unbiased jury of one’s peers. And, I doubt if that will ever happen, because social media has corrupted the system so completely. American natives, which I happen to be part of, used arrows grouped together to symbolize a coming together of nations for the welfare of all, including peace and war, water and food, and to be stewards of the land along with its inhabitants both human and non-human. The white interlopers borrowed this symbolism, they claimed to be inclusive, and they wiped the 1st Nations off of the map and took the land.
Manifest Destiny was on full display, and as the fascist Germans realized, they borrowed it for themselves in what they called ” Leibensurm”, “blood and soil” and let’s not forget eugenics which was started in the United States and England, and borrowed by the Fascist Germans. That’s why Hitler figured the United States would fall into line with them eventually. And that’s why so much of corporate America was building Fascist Germany’s war equipment, equipment that was used in killing Americans, so absolutely, corporate America does not have its citizens in its best interests, and that includes Facebook, Amazon, Fox, fossil fuel industries, pesticide manufacturers, and others!
Anyway, this is something that I have posted before, but it’s always a necessity to refresh one’s memory and get the old juices flowing, LOL!
Hey Marv, how did I do?
My activity outside of this forum is what most would call “in the trenches”, a distinctly unpleasant place to be, and from there my view is consistent with what the topic here is today but less, huh, intellectual.
Hillary called the enemies of reason, a “basket of deplorables”. I think that’s pretty accurate but it boils down to the ignorant. This ignorance has several dimensions: lack of current objective news and lack of education and lack of exposure to a culture of learning at home and in the community replaced by a culture of illiberal authoritarianism. That, believe me, is a boatload of ignorance that has been empowered and rewarded by those who take advantage of it for personal gain.
It is not repairable. They like it where they are. It will however die out over time which makes the job of liberals keeping the Constitution intact while that happens by engaging more voters into the fray.
Vote blue no matter who this time.
Larry – love your grassroots action, but all be aware that any vote (including write ins) not for a DEM essentially is a vote for The Duck – all His people will vote!
Larry, LOL!
Todd,
When you think about it, Jesus Christ was a socialist, he actually was a Jewish socialist! While I am not Jewish, I think socialism should not be a dirty word, although I believe IT IS a dirty word to capitalists! If it were not for the Jewish experience throughout the millennia, we would be one huge hegemonic dictatorship which seems to be happening now.
There are those, who use propaganda and hatred to promote the Jews as a foil, for their own political agenda! (I know I know I know, my commas are in the wrong place) I’m not a writer LOL.
But, if it wasn’t for the American Jewish society, we would not have the African-American influence on music in the United States. It was Jewish businessmen who promoted the music, wrote some of the music, and booked acts into large theaters. Without that relationship, African-American artists of all types would not be known to this day.
Of course there are vast differences religiously, but just as the Muslim faith points out, Christ was a man of God, the Jews say the same, and of course Christians say “Trump” err um, Christ!
So, I don’t see why there should be such a chasm. Of course the chasm is man-made, designed by those in the minority to divide and conquer. Throughout history it can be seen with empirical evidence, the Jews are a strong and inclusive peoples. And, might I suggest, the Jews should reach out into the ghettos that they were forced to live in all those years, not just in Europe but in the United States, and teach the folks in those ghettos how to use their faith to be reliant, not only on themselves, but their fellow man and communities. How to network, how to assist others once they’ve reached “a” pinnacle. This would provide confidence and a knowledge infusion that is sorely lacking by the government not to mention education.
The Jews never needed the European or American Protestant powerbrokers, because through the networking that developed out of necessity, was always there for the asking, and success was arrived at through that networking and hard sacrificing work. Nothing was given, everything was earned, and that is the lesson that needs to be imparted on those who are stuck in the ghettos now. One never forgets where they came from, the ghettos, to a certain extent, were a form of security for those living there, but also a form of disrespect and Disenfranchisement by the Hypocritical mainstream power base.(Moneychangers were a prime example)
Whatever one thinks of religion, it’s an important sharpening stone, we are constantly honing our conscience based on knowledge and wisdom gleaned by experience and by God. Those who are hypocritical, don’t have the ability to hone their conscience, because their conscience is dead. When your moral compass is broken, there is no ethical north, you might as well be a ship without a rudder, constantly repeating the same thing over and over and over again. History shows mankind is rudderless when he gets away from things that would ground him, worship and all that goes with it, respect, works, faith, hope, love, is a good thing, those who claim piety, do not value these things nor do they practice them. They use their piety as a sledgehammer to beat their fellow man to death with. Just as the Pharisees and Sadducees of the Sanhedrin did not come to the defense of Christ, because their religious status would have been affected.
So, I don’t agree that capitalism should be able to run rampant, and, I do believe, the Jewish form of capitalism is much gentler and inclusive, and during these times, it should even be more so.
John S.
That’s the best yet. You’re right on target. The reason democracy is being clobbered is that the pro-democracy forces are not united. It comes from the mistaken idea that the Jews can fight back. In other words, we can’t fight back until the Jews can do so. Lots of luck!
See “The Destruction of the European Jews” by Raul Hilberg (Holmes & Meier, New York, 1985) p.19:
“The Jewish posture in the face of destruction was not shaped on the spur of the moment. The Jews of Europe had been confronted by force many times in their history, and during these encounters they had evolved a set of reactions that were to remain remarkably constant
over the centuries. This pattern may be portrayed by the following diagram:
Approximations From the diagram: RESISTANCE (never), ALLEVIATION (40%) EVASION (10%) PARALYSIS (10%) and COMPLIANCE (40%).”
“Preventive attack, armed resistance, and revenge were almost absent in Jewish exile history (includes the U.S.). The last, and only, major revolt took place in the Roman Empire at the beginning of the second century when the Jews were still living in compact settlements in the eastern Mediterranea region and when they were still envisaging an independent Judea. During the Middle Ages the Jewish communities no longer contemplated battle. The medieval Hebrew poets did not celebrate the martial arts. The Jews of Europe were placing themselves under the
protection of the constituted authority (sound familiar). This reliance was legal, physical, and psychological.”
Raul Hilberg is looked to as the pre-eminent scholar of the Holocaust. Before his death, I had the opportunity to have approximately an hour’s conversation with him.
This is why almost everything surrounding the TRUMP DEBACLE is Jewish. Who wants to help the Jews is they’re not going to stand-up? They’re the TARGET right now. Don’t expect any other group to stand-up with them if they’re not going to stand-up themselves. No one is that stupid.
It’s a disaster in the making.
Don’t take this is as necessarily a criticism of the Jewish leadership in the U.S. If they would stand-up they would be clobbered, in addition to having all aid to The State of Israel cut off, just like George Bush retaliated with, in the early ’90s.
Good Ole U.S.A.!
huffpost,article white collar crime,,just up…
I personally don’t think that the forces of ignorance are any more antisemitic than anti-everyone not Caucasian, male, heterosexual, Christian, wealthy and whose ancestors migrated here after theirs.
Pete,
“I personally don’t think that the forces of ignorance are any more antisemitic than anti-everyone not Caucasian, male, heterosexual, Christian, wealthy and whose ancestors migrated here after theirs.”
You gotta be kidding. Your views would naturally be skewed after working all those years with George Eastman at Eastman Kodak. I’m sure he would be proud.
George Eastman and Eastman Kodak sure didn’t mind trading with the Nazis while the Jews were being rounded up and sent to concentration camps.
WWII was over when I worked there.
Do you suggest sources written by women to your students too?
I will check out your student’s blog. Thanks for the link.
Theresa,
“Signed up for this new blog POLITICOLOGY and read the piece on Fascism. Excellent! Marv, as someone who has studied Nazi Germany, please go read that piece too and let us know what you think. WOW!”
Theresa, I believe the author is very well-meaning and a terrific guy who knows very little about Fascism. His main source “Ur-Fascism” was written by Umberto Eco twenty-five years ago. He “cherry-picked” between three books. Umberto Eco’s best work was not a short essay like the one cited in “The New York Review of Books.”
Eco has continually warned that when Fascism appears again it wouldn’t be like the last time. One author has been more correct by labeling the movement in the U.S. as “Upside Down Fascism.”
We’ve had a Fascist-like dynamic movement, mostly sub-surface, for at least 50 years in the U.S.
And since we didn’t adequately identify it, we end up where we are now.
However, better late than never.
We’re experiencing a fascist-like takeover. It’s not a win-win situation that one would find in a democracy. It’s much more like a war. Can you imagine a war being fought where one side doesn’t worry about the effectiveness or the accuracy of its intelligence? How else could a fool like Donald Trump prevail? And who should get the blame for this disaster? I know where my vote would go in a “New York minute.”
Marv,
“Better late than never” Yeah brother! Although, I have no idea why it wasn’t identified. There were many Jews that marched with Dr. King, there were many Jews fighting Jim Crow, because those Jews knew the history, they knew the chain of events that were happening, they lived in the moment but remembered history, unlike most people in America today.
I still remember my uncle Roger talking about Dachau, and how the stench was wafting for miles and miles with trains full of decomposing bodies. And how unlikely it was that the local population was not aware of what was going on. And how they made those folks unload those trains and bury those bodies amidst their protests that they were innocent of any crime. If you don’t speak up, if you know something is happening that is so catastrophically evil and you just ignore it, well, you’re just as guilty as those guards in the camp.
Who would give their life for their brother? In a previous comment, I mentioned that whether you believe in evolution or creation, we are still all related. We all started somewhere, the earth didn’t just populate with millions of people overnight, it would have had to start with a 1st pair. If that’s the case, we are all brothers and sisters. So, are we or are we not our brother’s keeper? And being brothers and sisters, are you willing to make the ultimate sacrifice?
Under the Mosaic law, the Israelites slaughtered animals and presented those animals as sacrifices, in contrast, Christians are supposed to continually present their body, his whole being, as a living sacrifice! Jesus Christ sacrificed his body and his life for his fellow man. This was foretold way back through the Old Testament. Hundreds of years before his birth, numerous prophecies concerning him had been given and were preserved in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). All these prophecies were fulfilled in the one man Jesus, many in ways completely beyond his control. He could not, for instance, have arranged the time and place of his birth, the tribe into which he would be born, or the manner of his betrayal, humiliation, torture, execution, death, and burial. (Micah 5:2; Daniel 9:25; Genesis 49:10; Zechariah 11:12; Isaiah 50:6; Psalm 22:7, 8; 34:20) The fulfillment of these and other prophecies proves that Jesus was the Savior sent by God.
There will for ever be a connection between Jews and Christians, there should not be animosity, a person’s belief is their belief. Without the Jews there would not have been a Christ, without Gentiles there would not have been a Messiah. It would be nice if eventually all these things were sorted out, although I’m aware of, and familiar with the chasms that exist, my hope is, there will be an end to all of the derision and the evil propaganda that keeps everyone divided. One thing is for sure, when you familiarize yourself enough with actual truthful scriptural information, and you can prove it from old and New Testament, you can refute the lies of those who try to divide. But you have to take that step. And so many find that ridiculous. The answer is in front of everyone’s face, if they can be shown how wrong they are, even if they refuse to acknowledge it, then they are no longer Christian, or Jewish for that matter. They are apostate and not worth casting your pearls before swine.
The Jewish people in the Jewish culture have so much to offer other cultures and peoples, it could make these other groups independent, maybe not as independent as the Jews have been for many millennia, but, independence from servitude and degradation will make any group stand straighter and walk prouder. (Is prouder a word?) Anyway, that’s my diatribe! Thanks Sheila,
Thanks Marv.
I’m getting better at this, I hate looking like an uneducated lout talking to all of you folks.
John S.,
“Better late than never” Yeah brother! Although, I have no idea why it wasn’t identified.
Bill Moyers tried to fight it in the mid-’80s, but withdrew from the fight after being vilified in “The New Republic Magazine.”
Fighting anti-Semitism or what has been called a new strain of the “Hitler Virus” is extremely difficult. In the past, once it gets out beyond a certain point it can’t be contained.
Using the Coronavirus as an example, almost everyone would like the virus contained or eliminated. But in the case of anti-Semitism, it’s much more difficult, since there could be millions supporting the spread, as well as, a large contingent willing to attack those fighting the disease.
Milt Romney is a good example of someone who stood up for his convictions and now has to watch his backside from possible retaliation.
Sorry, that’s Mitt instead of Milt.
John S.,
“Better late than never” Yeah brother! Although, I have NO IDEA why it wasn’t identified.
The following explains why it wasn’t identified. It’s from my essay at http://www.Democracide.info entitled “Democracide: The Far Right’s Path to Power (1993)”:
“A handful of personal morality issues with “correct” answers labeled “pro-family” had become the litmus test for rejecting or supporting candidates. There was only one way to think, and everyone else became the enemy–even “devils.” In 1981, Bailey Smith head of the Southern Baptist Convention (who later was pastor of the North Jacksonville Baptist Church) declared publically that “God doesn’t deliver the prayers of the Jews.” He again made the same statement in 1986, and this time, the statement was confirmed by Paige Patterson, Executive Director of the Southern Baptist Convention, who added, “If the Jews want to do anything about it, there will be trouble.” [18] Otherwise interpreted….you won’t receive a dime for Israel, if you make one step to effectively defend anti-Semitism in America. Thus was formed the “modus vivendi” between the SBC and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). First capitulation, then collaboration. All of this under the so-called……Christian-Zionist Alliance.”
You are right Marv, just like the coronavirus caught everyone by surprise. It’s a pandemic in the making, because people can carry it and pass it along without symptoms. And just like all of those slippery fascist fish sliding around in the darkness without being noticed, until symptoms are seen!
What happened to the Bund? At the start of the second world war, they didn’t just evaporate! They went underground and spread like earthworms. They had/have their tentacles in every sort of white nationalist anti-Semitic and bigoted organization in the United States. They are also armed to the teeth with the help of all of those self-righteous wing nuts out there.
John,
As you said, it’s a PANDEMIC. We started it. About ten years ago it crossed the Atlantic via the internet and proceeded first to Norway, then, eventually, to England resulting in the Brexit victory.
This is fantastic to read as public policy changes are continually necessary. Thank you Sheila for all the good you do.