Our newly elected officials would be wise to heed that old statement: "A house divided against itself cannot stand." The House of Representatives now has a Republican majority. The Senate has a Democratic majority. What that is going to mean for "we, the people" will yet have to be seen. I hope that none of those elected takes a look at the "politics" of Klal to use as instruction on how to proceed for the good of the country as a whole.
None of the "parties" of Klal seems capable of working in tandem for the good of all. Each of those "parties" seems hell-bent on achieving its own agenda, None of those on the right, the left or the middle seem to be able to work in cooperation. Instead, each side, certainly the extremists on each side, seem more than willing to see the others fall into the sea and drown. Heck, they won't even sit down at the same table to hammer out a policy that would be all-inclusive--certainly not if at that table there is going to be a meal served. You'd have to get everyone to agree on the kashrush of the food served, on whose hashgocha to use, and we all know how well that would work out.
I shudder to think what might happen if the leadership of Klal were to be decided by election instead of our present method. You think local politics can sometimes get dirty? Twould be nothing as compared to what would happen in the "my gadol is better than your gadol" race to the top. And in the "swing state" of New York matters would be truly impossible. Just deciding who has the right and privelege to vote would take those in Klal living here the rest of this century and beyond to decide, and I'm not convinced that a decision would be reached at all.
By comparison to "Jewish" politics, the political manouverings in the secular US are a walk in the park.
4 comments:
Very true. And very depressing.
Your first mistake is in assuming that the Jewish parties all believe they are living in one country and that it is a democracy. Lots of them act as if their area is a separate country and not subject to the rules that govern the other places. And democracy? In some of the communities of Klal? Living proof that communist dictatorships can thrive and flourish.
And yes, very depressing.
The House of Representatives now has a Republican majority. The Senate has a Democratic majority. What that is going to mean for "we, the people" will yet have to be seen.
Um, this is hardly the first time in recent history that control of government has been split.
The higher the stakes, the less the crap sticks... Congressional elections are MUCH UGLIER than Senate races, and Presidential races are much cleaner than gubernatorial races.
The stakes are so low in Klal, which lets people magnify nonsense into more importance.
You're talking about party leaders of fringe subsets of a fringe group (Orthodox) of a TiNY minority (Jews).
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