One of my themes is that the Israel lobby has too much power in American life because both parties are behind it. I compare it to the consensus for slavery that existed in the 1850s between Whigs and Dems before Abraham Lincoln broke it up. Today we need a wedge coalition that it going to separate the progressive human-rights Democrats from the colonialist Democrats and the isolationist human-rights Republicans from the Pentagon Republicans and build a coalition that respects human rights in Palestine. I don't know where Sam Haselby, a historian and junior fellow at Harvard, stands on My Issue, but he clearly understands the way that the two-party system defeats insurgent causes in the name of bipartisanship. From the Boston Globe:
After the Civil War, the Radical Republicans, a relatively small and highly partisan faction, effectively controlled the government. Instead of merely passing laws, they amended the US Constitution - ending slavery here, creating national citizenship and the practice of equality before the law for all, and protecting Americans' right to vote. All were partisan measures, passed over the opposition of the Democrats and President Andrew Johnson...
Bipartisanship, by contrast, has enabled some of the most shameful episodes in American history. In addition to protecting slavery, bipartisan consensus allowed racial segregation after the Civil War and the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII. The persecutions of Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy received the support of Democratic colleagues and were made possible by a Democratic president's executive order. More recently, with the 2002 Iraq Resolution, 29 Democratic senators, exemplifying bipartisanship, joined 48 Republicans in authorizing President Bush to launch the Iraq war
The two party system is essentially one on Israeli policy,no matter the America First value.
"One of my themes is that the Israel lobby has too much power in American life because both parties are behind it. I compare it to the consensus for slavery that existed in the 1850s between Whigs and Dems before Abraham Lincoln broke it up."
Holy sh*t.
You are insane.
"One of my themes is that the Israel lobby has too much power in American life because both parties are behind it. I compare it to the consensus for slavery that existed in the 1850s between Whigs and Dems before Abraham Lincoln broke it up."
You're nuts.
Hey, Phil is not nuts at all all. He's very sane. The current consensus in the USA is that Palestinians are
sub-humans, not worthy of aid. The current American policy as revealed by the US Congress and White House, and the MSM, shows they have not yet seen the new Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Bush and his cabinet were so obvious in their actions (I consider this the summation of lessons from Iran-Contra: Just Do It,) so awe-inspiring awful, that the Democrats got an eight year ride. The cover wore thin as Bush's presidency ended; it became obvious that the Democrats weren't going to demand exposure of the Medusa-like entanglement that was war profiteering, or question possible criminal activity by administration officials.
Years passed before Lincoln concluded that slavery was immoral; his decision in the end was based on the fact that slavery took away from the slaves the ability to better themselves through their own labor, which he thought was what God intended for all 'his children'. A principle equally applicable to the Palestinians, who were competitors ill-prepared for the highly industrialized emigrant Middle-Europeans, and became entrapped by an inequality of circumstances in flux during the first half of the 20th Century, and then prisoners of those who inherited Britain's failed colonial effort.
Obama comes from a strong civil-rights, grass-roots tradition. His intention as a senatorial candidate in 1995 was to empower people through that tradition. He achieved his aim, then and again in 2008.
The question now is: what will we do with the model of grass-roots activity he has demonstrated works? Will we allow ourselves to be divided, and thus rendered mute? Or will we unite, to speak with the roar of a multitude?
The Internet gives power to the people.