No Left or Right: Good vs. Evil

Today the Brits, our on-again-off-again allies, shattered a plot that would have sent many innocent airline travelers to their death. We truly are in a new era with new rules, and we are being slow in catching onto what must be done. This new era started well before the tragic events of 9-11. So, that begs the question: what is going on? For one thing, any meaningful dichotomy between the left and the right has disappeared. Forget about it. Forget about Democrat and Republican and all that nonsense. It goes deeper now, and it has gotten very strange. The old political lines mean nothing now as we emerge and transcend from the postmodern world (that bastard child of liberalism) into a new era.

Weird Allies

We have reached a state of ultimate polarization where we go beyond disagreement to vilification. It is an existential battle between two sides composed of seemingly odd, even paradoxical, allies. Each side agrees who the enemy is, on the "big picture," and vaguely on what needs to be done. Yet the future as envisioned by these allies would have no place for their current partners of convenience. For example, on one side you have militant Islam and what used to be the radical left. This side is converging on a world vision where the United States is the bully of the world, and Israel is an aggressive apartheid state. In essence the enemy is the United States and the Jews. At the end of the day, Israel is nothing but a codeword for Jews anyway. This side sees terrorism as a logical, inevitable, and even welcomed (opportunity for joyful martyrdom), outgrowth of oppression. This side is very much into the belief that the ends do justify the means. This side also sees market capitalism as a degenerate cancer on humankind creating an erotic world of material indulgence. Oddly enough, Islamic fundamentalist think that erotic and material indulgence on this world is sinful, but erotic and material indulgence is the reward of heaven in the world to come. You figure it out. Anyway, an example of these strange bedfellows would be Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Interestingly enough, radical Islam is emerging with a strong penchant for socialism. Now that I think about it, maybe there is not that great a difference between the practitioners of world terrorism, and their fellow travelers who gleefully encourage them in their wanton vandalism of civilization.

We are also facing a new paradigm where the enemies of freedom have learned to rape democracy and use it as a means to achieve totalitarian goals. The best example of that is the Palestinian election of Hamas, and the increasing voter appeal of other Islamic fundamentalist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Hezbollah.

Jews and Christians

On the other side you have the conservative Christian evangelicals who are into Jew hugging these days. At the synagogue that I attend we can't keep the Christians out. They come all starry eyed to participate and are awed by the use of Hebrew and ancient prayers. You have to admit that this is kind of disconcerting when the history of Jews and Christians has not been a pretty one for most of our history together. Yet, you really must take this at face value. They want to draw near to Jews, to hear our payers, and are honored to participate in our services. That my friend is powerful. Many Jews, particularly the ultra-religious and the ultra-liberal, are uncomfortable with all of this for very different reasons. The ultra-religious are uncomfortable for theological reasons and a healthy suspicion of anything that Christians do (this was learned through years of persecution and getting kicked out of every Christian nation I can think of). Orthodox Jews have long memories. On the other hand, liberal Jews have no memory. Liberal Jews are very much pained by the conservative views of evangelical Christians and see their advances as embarrassing. Evangelicals are against abortion, support the death penalty, join the National Rifle Association, they tear up when they see the flag, and they like to vote Republican. Liberal Jews cringe at all that, and are embarrassed to be seen with their new found best buddies. They better get over that aversion real quick. The reason is that Evangelical Christians, as opposed to the more liberal protestant denominations, are really and truly among the only real friends Jews (and remember Jews and Israel are synonymous) have. Forget about the political left as well. The political left will, and are, turning on Israel and profess ignorance in the fact that to turn on Israel is to turn on Jews as well. That is the bitter truth.

My Apologies

As a witness to all this I hereby take back every negative thought and comment I have made about evangelical Christians. I hereby apologize for all of it. The past is the past. We must work from this point on with the realities that are before us. The first order of business as we get our bearings in this new reality, which is beyond the petty arguments of conservatism and liberalism, is to understand very clearly who is with us, and who is against us.