I just have a hard time believing that most on the left are ignorant of major themes in American thought. My guess is that it would be nearly impossible for many people on the traditional right to escape the views of the left, since those views are everywhere. I can see how some on the left can be ignorant of many traditional American views, but can that be the case among the intelligent and supposedly well-educated? Are we that far gone as a society?

In part, I think, because the left has controlled higher-ed for over 40 years, the gap between the left and right is colossal. The two sides read different books, use different assumptions in their reasoning, and often seem to speak different languages.

I agree that the sense of belonging within Judaism is unique and great source of strength. I look forward to the day when it is not chained to Israeli politics and Zionism.

Political Zionism has nothing to do with the Jewish religion, and in fact is a denial of it. Zionism has corrupted Judaism and transformed (at least temporarily) the Jewish “people”, with immense consequences for the United States. One of the principal social tasks for America in the years ahead is to convince the American Jewish community that secular Judaism can survive without the narcotic of Zionism.

As for Christianity and nationalism, I should really clarify what I meant. I certainly did not mean to suggest that christianity did not become all wrapped up in patriotism and nationalist sentiment. Rather I intended to say that christianity – as a religion – always had a universalist aspect to it (just as islam does), which is one reason it was able to garner so many adherents all over the globe. Ethnicity was never a bar to becoming christian which is why there are now so many christian originated sects and denominations. Yet, even though judaism too gave rise to different schools, there was always that ethnic-based bond – whether true or false. It’s the assumption of a common, ethnically-derived bond that matters, which is what’s embodied in the expression – Am israel (loosely translated as the nation-people of israel). And that is what a tribe is – the members of which are assumed to be bonded through blood connections – however remote or unreal. That’s why being a jewish convert is such a difficult proposition – the bond always seems a bit tenuous, no matter how strong the belief is.

What tribal familiality does is to reinforce the feeling that there is collective behind you. Even an ex-zionist such as me (or, as I like to call myself these days – a trans-zionist, kind of like trans-gender?) can be a beneficiary of this bond, regardless of how much I may criticize the collective. As Phil once described, there are always a few willing to act as tribal minders, ready to bring the straying sheep back home to the flock. It’s even OK if they choose to graze at meadows some distance away.

And this sense of bondedness to a collective empowers in ways that are, frankly, difficult to describe. It explains why jewish-derived people from totally different backgrounds and/or convictions find themselves gravitating towards each other, if only to fight tooth and nail. Even the fights are part of the code. Just look at Witty……were he a christian he would have long ago been put out to a nice cyber pasture somewhere far away from this blog, just like what happened to poor chris moore. but here, the tribal fabric strains, stretches but continues to bind.

Interestingly, it’s the mad-cap mega-zionists that are run out of town, with their transparent hasbara tool kits. And that gives me hope that this not-always-charming tribe is about to split up for real, as irrevocably as the tribes of judea and israel once did. Amen to that.