As you may know already, although I greatly enjoy "punditing" about American presidential politics and elections, I've never voted in American Elections even though I do have a legal right. There are two major reasons for this.
- Having voted with my feet to live in Israel in the summer of 1970, just before what could have been my first chance to vote (at that time you needed to be 21) I've always felt that one should only vote in elections of the country one resides permanently.
- Considering the twists and turns from election platform to actual policy all Presidents make and the consistently anti-Israel policy/ideology of the State Department, I just don't trust any candidate with my vote. It doesn't matter who wins, the policies will never be what I want from America.
We've all heard the promises and faux sympathy and understanding from presidential wannabes, and we've all heard beautifully written, crafted and professionally performed speeches by visiting candidates and POTUS'es, and everyone with half a brain should know by now that it's all a sham. It's as fake as the wizard in The Wizard of Oz.
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| Dorothy confronting the "wizard" |
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| Passengers aboard the "St. Louis." These refugees from Nazi Germany were forced to return to Europe after both Cuba and the US denied them refuge. May or June 1939. Photo: US Holocaust Memorial Museum credit |
For reasons beyond my comprehension, American Jews still think that being and supporting the Democratic Party is more Jewish than Yom Kippur in some fokokt belief that FDR saved them from Russian pogroms, even though it's well-known that he sent escaping Jews back to the Nazi gas chambers. So your typical American Jew is debating between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
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| Hillary rewarding Suha Arafat's anti-Israel lies |
Hillary's claims and speeches are so far removed from the truth she should get two Oscars, one for acting and the other for screenwriting.
And then there are those who will vote for anyone born Jewish without reading the fine print, so they want Bernie Sanders. And they consider Sanders' time as a volunteer on an Israeli kibbutz over half a century ago to be proof of his pro-Israel bonafides. There's only one problem with that and it's a biggee. Besides the fact that Sanders' policies vis a vis Israel are to the Left (meaning more pro-Arab) than even Hillary's, the kibbutz he stayed at was Kibbutz Sha’ar Ha’Amakim, one of the last to give up its worship of Stalin. Granted he has been understandingly silent about that in order to distance himself from that rather embarrassing detail. But it is a well-known fact that Sanders is on the far Left of the American political spectrum. And in recent decades, the further Left the closer to the pro-Arab/Palestine sic manifesto.
I've been totally enjoying Donald Trump's trashing of the Republican machine, and quite a few people I respect and trust have told me in private (meaning I can't name them) conversation that they support him. Caroline Glick has come out in support of Senator Ted Cruz, if her opinion makes a difference to you.
In all honesty, I just don't know, because I don't trust anyone in politics. And there's one thing for sure, and that is the power of the State Department, which is very skilled at overriding the U. S. President. Besides Truman's demanding that the American U.N. delegate vote for a Jewish State, November 29, 1947, there haven't been many pro-Israel rebellions from the Oval Office.
POTUS can encourage the State Department to go further Left, pro-Arab, but has one ever taken it to the Right when it comes to Israel?
What do you think? Comments welcome...