Toughlove For Israel
Last weekend Ron Paul said the unthinkable: Israel needs to stand up on its own two feet and stop siphoning billions of dollars from American taxpayers. He said: “Why make Israel so dependent? They can't defend their borders without coming to us.”
[gasp] Blasphemy! What in God’s Name??? You can't say that! Israel is sacred. What's he gonna do next, start cutting farts during a church service?
And yet, Ron Paul was just echoing what conservatives have been saying for decades. Think of the pride and dignity Israel will have when it starts to pull its own weight and becomes a productive member of the world community.
Sure, it’s easier to just lie back and keep taking handouts from hardworking taxpayers. But it’s a trap. The Nanny State is seductive but it’s treacherous. Deep down inside, Israel knows it's unhealthy to be so needy and dependent. The Welfare State is a destroyer of incentives; it saps the work ethic.
Israel has been suffering under the Tyranny of Low Expectations. The kindest thing we could do is stop these addictive welfare payments NOW. It wouldn’t be a popular decision but it’s the right thing to do. Someday Israel will thank us.
cross-posted at Bring It On!
Labels: Israel dependent, Ron Paul, tyranny of low expectations
posted by Tom Harper @ 7:12 PM
22 Comments:
Right on. Great post.
Thanks Caldera.
OMG, I have a terrible feeling that this fucker's gonna end up in the White House.
It's ridiculous that we spend so much money to keep Israel on life support. if we pull out our support they will no longer be a country. their being a country is what started all the problems in the region in the first place. their god screwed up and promised the land of Israel to two different peoples. we should just let them fight it out, is Israel loses, big fucking deal, cultures have been being conquered for all of recorded history, why should we stop it now.
Candace: I assume you're talking about Huckabee (from my previous post). I think he'd be the easiest Republican to beat if he gets the nomination. But there's no guarantee. OMG, President Huckabee?!?!?!?
Illnoise: I agree, whatever happens in the Middle East should just be allowed to happen. I suspect Israel could hold their own without our help. They'd just have to spend a larger portion of their treasury on the military; like America has always done.
Baaahahahaaa!! I've never thought about that, but you're right. Why do we side with them so much? You'd think the Chreeeestians in the GOP would be offended to support the people that "killed Jesus", but they always seem to have their back. Israel needs a hand up, not a handout. Then let's see how fierce they are without the most well-funded military behind them.
(Though they are pretty tough. As comic Jackie Mason once said, "The Israeli Army are the toughest Jews in the world. They coulda had the Suez Canal, but why? There's not boardwalk.")
Mile High Pixie: Pretty ironic, huh? Neocons are mostly a bunch of rightwing bigots who hate Jews (and every other minority), and yet their foreign policy is of, by and for Israel. Go figure. Good Jackie Mason quote.
Actually, I believe a lot of prominent neocons are American jews. Bill Kristol was one of the founders of the Project For a New American Century.
What really got me was how the Israelis threw a temper tantrum recently when our NIE came out. They're practically demanding we go to war with Iran.
No wonder Fox News is keeping him off the debate.
Happy New Year Tom!
J: True, some of the most prominent neocons are Jewish. But outside of them, there's this superior exclusive attitude that just exudes racism. Neocons aren't the toothless trailerpark rednecks portrayed in stereotypes; but their country club dignified exterior is masking those same racist xenophobic attitudes. I'm generalizing of course.
Larry: Yup, Paul is dangerous to Fox and the rest of those "mainstream" sources. And Happy New Year to you too.
Of all the things I was going to say this one says it all...
Don't they realize if Israel no longer exist not only will our gas NOT get cheaper, not only will our terrorist NOT decrease (because they will find a new a reason to hate us)
Ready
We'll be giving the Holy Land to the Arabs
Erik
Erik: OMG, we certainly can't let that happen.
Addictive welfare payments? That's pretty low, don't you think, considering Israel's the only democracy in the Middle East (excepting Iraq nascent democratic regime), and we've got a major moral and security stake in the survival of the Jewish state?
A few billion a year's a great investment...
The main point of the post was to throw conservatives' own "up by your own bootstraps" rhetoric back at them. But in any case I disagree that Israel's defense is "a great investment." I'm all in favor of a strong U.S. defense, but it's not "defense" when we keep propping up hated regimes all over the world.
I believe the religious right support Israel because Israel is part of their Rapture scenario. A bunch of Jews have to be converted during the Last Days. It's all very convoluted.
P.S. Happy New Year Tom!
Mauigirl: Thanks and Happy New Year to you too. That makes sense, that the Rapture crowd is some of Israel's most faithful followers. After all, if WWIII blows us all up (and the Middle East is the most likely place for this to happen), that magic moment will finally arrive for the Righteous among us.
Oops, Tom - I did mean Huckabee.
I agree with Donald Douglas in that I believe we have a moral obligation to help Israel. (As an atheist, of course I'm not speaking from a religious viewpoint.)
And Mauigirl is right about the Rapture crowd. I posted a video a while back of a Fundie convention where they were talking about the "End Times." They believe that Israel will be the conduit for the "Second Coming." That's why they're so pro-Israel. Weird.
Now, as to why Israel is so gung-ho for us to invade Iran, I can only assume that's because we are cooking up an invasion with them. The backroom deal would be: If they don't support us, then they don't get the money. That's another thing the Fundies support - invading Iran. In fact, they EXPECT it during Bu$hCo's regime.
I hope you're right about Huckabee being the easiest to beat. However, I fear an October surprise, and Huckabee gets in the White House.
Well, have a good day, all.
Candace: I think Israel and the U.S. are both toxic to each other. We're probably the two most hated countries in the world, and every time we "help" Israel we're just digging ourselves deeper. I have nothing against Israel but I think they'd do fine without our help. They might have to do what America does -- spend more of their tax money on the military and cut back on everything else. It seems to be working fine for us (Not!).
An October Surprise that puts Huckabee in the White House -- Nooo!!! Thank God my passport is up-to-date.
I would dearly love to hear Ron Paul rip off some loud, aggressive flatii in church.
A friend of mine who used to work for the city works department was involved with cleaning out sewer lines from time to time, and they call the thick, claylike stenchy stuff in there "huckey". From now on I will refer to Huckabee as "Huckey" or "Huckeybee".
President Huckey? Scheise! My passport actually IS in the works as we speak. I don't think the guy would try to turn America into something from "The Handmaid's Tale", but when I saw his campaign slogan "enough is enough", I got to thinking. Enough of what? Secularists?
As for Israel, while they seem to be the only democracy in the Middle East and while they seem like the most natural nation for us to give most of our support to in that region... I believe it is our one-sided support of Israel, our favoritism of that country over all others in the area, that is adding to so much of the trouble in the Middle East today. I am about ready for us to get out of the peace-brokering business over there, and encourage some other nation to do it. Our Middle East foreign policy approach since 1947 has obviously not worked very well. Maybe it's time to change?
Snave: Huckeybee, LOL.
You're right, our foreign policy (in general, not just the Middle East) has been pretty disastrous for the past 60 years. We need to do something different. Since Bush repeatedly spoke out against "nation-building" during the 2000 election (he sure has flipflopped since then), maybe we could start practicing that. To borrow from Huckeybee, "enough is enough" -- nationbuilding, that is.
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