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| Last night's Democratic debate |
It was basically a competition between
liberals and liberals – each trying to outdo each other as a populist alternative
to a President, they all despise. There was
no shortage of accusations about Trump’s character. His alleged racism was taken
for granted by all of them. They all pretty much all implied that 4 more years of
Trump would mean the end of the United States as we know it. They did not say why. They just assumed everyone knows
that by now.
What is it exactly that we are supposed to know? Well, from the perspective of a liberal, Trump’s policies have all
been a disaster. His environmental polices will destroy the planet (e.g. deregulation); tax reductions only benefit the wealthy and big business - at the expense of the middle class and the poor; he does not care about health care at an affordable cost; his trade policies have hurt the American farmers
and consumers; Iran has resumed enriching uranium; he praises dictators and condemns our allies - who no longer respect us; he is generally a racist and bigot that hates immigrants... has done absolutely nothing about gun control; and that he is an unethical self
centered scoundrel using the Presidency for his own financial gain.
The problem with these claims is that many of them are debatable and some of his
polices are pretty much the same that any good conservative President would
have implemented. The only difference being his unorthodox personal style and using
language that is very abrasive about his political enemies or people that cross
him.
I have said many times that as someone that leans politically
conservative I tend to support many of those policies. And as a
card carrying member of the middle class, I can testify that without a doubt
his economic polices have benefited me. I am one of the about 50% of Americans
that are invested in the stock market and have seen the value of my stock portfolio skyrocket to unprecedented levels over the last 3 years.
This does not mean I am endorsing him for a 2nd
term as President (or anyone else) at this point. It is just to point out that the ‘show’ put on last night
was little more that an exercise in liberal politics.
Be that as it may - what was missing last night was the view each
candidate has about Israel. Not a single question was asked by any moderator. That said I
have read interviews by the Jewish media and I was not really all that pleased with the responses. Most of
which claimed to support the Jewish state but disagreeing with their current government.
Some would actually move the US embassy back to Tel Aviv. Almost all spoke of a
2 state solution. And all agreed that settlements were an impediment to peace while adding (almost reluctantly) that Israel had right to defend itself and had legitimate security needs.
But last night… not a word. It would have been nice to here
any one of them say something about that. But they said nothing. I am afraid to think of what might happen to our relationship with Israel if any one of them gets into office.
I otherwise remain unexcited about any of these
candidates. I do not currently see myself endorsing any one of them.
