What Would A conservative Society Look Like?

Political Conservatism is one of the most harmful scams that pols have going.

Its essence is, "I got mine, too bad for you."

Now, that is not compatible with any Jewish philosophy that I am aware of, contrary to some statements.

The liberal beliefs, compassion, helping your fellow man, working together to promote the well being of all, concern about rights and equality of all, and not just the dwindling middle class and the wealthy, these are more closely aligned with Jewish beliefs than the "cut your losses"  "every man for himself"selfishness of the so called conservatives.

The man in the street conservative, in my (here very condensed view) is following the "conservative" beliefs because people want someone to blame for there worries and fears.

Conservatives choose a very easy target, poor people, minorities and "illegals", as well as politicians who support  compassion and aid to these groups

I do a lot of work that involves attempting to convince some liberals that Israel is the good guy in the ME.

That's obvious to all of us, but like conservative  followers, liberals are sometimes brainwashed by the media as well, and a certain portion of the liberal media is anti-Israel, particularly "Democracy Now".

The solution is to diligently seek the truth, and disseminate it.

If one does that, certain truths, such as, "As Americans we need to work to lift all Americans, and all people, to the extent we are able," are obvious.

I viewed a painting recently that visualizes the world if conservative principles are followed to their logical end, it depicts a shining city on a hill,. and the mass of the world's people basically subsisting below on the refuse and cast offs of the few remaining people of wealth.

That is definitely not the Jewish view of how thing should be.

100,000 people joined our campaign telling President Obama to "fight, don't cave" on tax cuts

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Join 100,000 others in telling President Obama -- stop caving. Start fighting the Republicans.

Since Thursday, over 100,000 people joined our campaign telling President Obama to "fight, don't cave" on tax cuts. The Washington Post, MSNBC, and others have covered our petition's progress.
But while the President was out of the country, his advisers did some "soul searching" about the election and came up with this brilliant insight, according to the Washington Post:

"They think he must forge partnerships with Republicans on key issues and make noticeable progress on his oft-repeated campaign pledge to change the ways of Washington." 

ARE YOU KIDDING??? Proposing compromise with the current cast of Republicans is like getting punched in the face repeatedly and then proposing that "both sides" stop punching each other in the face. 
Tell President Obama that Americans want him to START FIGHTING on issues like ending the Bush tax cuts for millionaires -- and Democrats will keep losing if he keeps caving. Sign the petition here.
Let's be clear: Republican leaders have zero interest in compromise. None. Zilch. Nada. "Bipartisanship" to them means Democrats vote for Republican ideas. Obama and his advisers need to understand that.
Even when the overwhelming majority of Americans supported the public option, not a single Republican leader said they'd consider voting for it. Instead, they called Obama a "socialist" for supporting the will of the people -- and Obama never fought back.
The American people don't want Obama to "compromise" just for the sake of compromising. And they certainly don't support cutting Social Security to pay for tax cuts for millionaires. 
When Obama is right and Republicans are wrong, Americans want their President to fight and win.
Join 100,000 others in telling President Obama to "fight, not cave" on ending the Bush tax cuts for millionaires. Click here.
The AFL-CIO and Democracy for America have joined us in calling for one vote on tax cuts -- for the middle class, not the rich -- and DARING Republicans to vote no.
Working together, we'll push Democratic leaders until they finally fight for "change we can believe in."

-- Adam Green, Stephanie Taylor, Forrest Brown, Michael Snook, and the PCCC team

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Czech List: Sometimes Even A Conference Can Teach Vivid Political Realities

By Barry Rubin*

August 25, 2010

http://www.gloria-center.org/blog/2010/08/sometimes-even-a-conference-can-teach

I'm not a big fan of conferences. There's nothing more repetitive than sitting in a panel where the presentations have interesting titles but are otherwise disappointing. Or listening to a speaker who may be very good but says absolutely nothing you don't know already. 

But sometimes you have fascinating experiences which are not exactly on the agenda. Here are three from a conference I attended in Prague a few years ago, each of which contains its own lessons. Incidentally, nothing about the below was off the record, though the names and some details have been omitted since this is about points, not personalities.

1. The German parliamentarian was well-dressed, angry, and red in the face. He raised his voice in righteous indignation. Why, he complained, were there a number of Israelis at the meeting but no Palestinians. Obviously he thought that he had caught the Czech hosts in some politically incorrect indiscretion. 

After he finished his somewhat insulting remarks and sat down, one of the Czechs stood up and explained very politely that plenty of Palestinians had been invited; all expenses paid, and had accepted but had simply not shown up. That's something I've seen plenty of times.

A Lesson: Why get rewarded for deciding not to succeed? Hamas refuses to act peacefully, and then is rewarded for having committed aggression and been soundly defeated as a result (2008-2009). Same applies for Hizballah (2006). The Palestinian Authority refuses to make peace and then is rewarded for alleged suffering under an occupation it has the power to end when it so wishes.

Recently, a reader made a startling suggestion to me that I think is a brilliant insight. In this day when not only equal opportunity but equal results is supposedly supposed (yes, that double use is deliberate) guaranteed, Israel is being "unfair" at doing so well socially and economically. 

In past decades, the failure of a nation to achieve democracy or prosperity would have been attributed to its own choices. That's a good thing because its people can then realize their mistakes, realize them, and succeed. Today, however, failure is often attributed to being a victim of racism, imperialism, and pure meanness.

Woody Allen allegedly said (it isn't clear that he did) that 99 percent of life is showing up. Yes, indeed. Showing up and performing well. But in the counter-Calvinism of our time, material achievement is a proof of damnation. 

The development theory of the 1950s and 1960s focused on how a country could achieve take-off to progress and prosperity. It is a model followed nowadays by China, South Korea, and some others.

The currently dominant view, at least in intellectual circles and among fashionable dictators and terrorists is the idea that underdevelopment is not a result of history, culture, society, and bad choices but of imperialist exploitation.  Instead of reforming yourself, the object is to wage war and other struggle to get the West to hand over the loot. This leads to violence, social intransigence, political stagnation, and failure. But at least it is a popular, rationalized failure.

2. The pompous American intellectual made a stirring speech about how great things were going in Afghanistan, a country he obviously knew nothing about. He was playing those Washington and academic games in which the lives of distant people are toyed with on the basis of book learning and theories. The fact that this particular fool happened to be conservative didn't change anything in the usual pattern.

My Afghan friend, who had been analyzing his own country for years and seen, as he put it, half his family murdered by the Communists and the other half murdered by the Islamists, could take no more. He stood up and countered with facts and details. His talk was a devastating response. The police in Kabul wouldn't leave their barracks to deal with violence. The war lords were out of control. Despite official optimism, Afghanistan was still Afghanistan and American plans were just illusions. 

A lesson: One would have thought that the arrogant fool would have been forever silenced by the graphic demonstration that he knew nothing and was speaking nonsense. Of course, such people are never influenced by that kind of humiliation. I've heard and read him since saying similar things. These "masters of the universe," to use Tom Wolfe's phrase-historically on the right but nowadays much more common on the left-think about their egos and careers, not the lives being affected by their prattling.

Nevertheless, the experience provided a stirring example of the difference between the real and fantasy worlds, between those who know and those who blow hot air, between those who merely articulate their ideological desires and those who have the courage to speak the truth.

I'm cynical enough to ask: Guess who gets the bigger honors and rewards? But not so pessimistic or craven to stop trying to do what's right. 

3. Its one thing to be a pacifist but quite another to talk like a pacifist while being a high-ranking official at the French Defense Ministry. The well-dressed, debonair, and relatively young man was explaining how nothing was worth fighting for, how conflict had to be avoided at virtually any cost. Naturally, he would object to my summary but it is nonetheless accurate.

I have a friend, though, who loves being provocative in a funny way. In personal life, he is a sweet and considerate person but he loves to play the role of the nasty, arrogant hardliner. You could see in his glittering eyes and slight smile that he saw a big fat target of opportunity.

And so as the French bureaucrat proclaimed that no one should go to war without prior approval of the UN, my friend stood up and pointed out that France had intervened dozens of times in Africa-overthrown governments, put down revolts, backed up oppressive regimes-without any reference to the UN whatsoever.

Up on stage, the French guy was livid, totally losing his temper, rose menacingly, and as I remember it threatened to punch out my friend. The spiritual man of peace had instantly turned into macho man cruising for a bruising. I think someone physically restrained him.

A lesson: When others advise that you have no right of self-defense, are using excessive force, and similar such stuff, note how ferocious they become and totally indifferent to moral or legal considerations when their interests are at stake.

  

*Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), with Walter Laqueur (Viking-Penguin); the paperback edition of The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan); A Chronological History of Terrorism, with Judy Colp Rubin, (Sharpe); and The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley). To read and subscribe to MERIA, GLORIA articles, or to order books, go to http://www.gloria-center.org.  You can read and subscribe to his blog at http://www.rubinreports.blogspot.com.