Prof. Paul Eidelberg, President
Foundation for Constitutional Democracy
Sarah Pallin displays what is most lacking in many people in high office: CHARACTER. Character is far more fundamental and important than “experience,” because without good character, experience will not enable office –holders to deal with the tough issues confronting our country.
A person of character has moral integrity and courage, personal dignity and humility, strong sense of justice and devotion to the common good, above all. respect for human life and, above all, a love of God. All this I discern in Governor Sarah Palin’s character—a strong, dynamic, yet humble person.
The Jewish sages regard humbleness as the highest virtue. Indeed, the Torah says Moses was the humblest person on the face of the earth. Humbleness is the only adjective the Torah uses to describe Moses. Why? Because humbleness is a precondition for achieving the highest wisdom. No wonder Gentile as well as Jewish philosophers and statesmen esteem Moses as the greatest law-giver of mankind.
I’m not suggesting that Governor Palin or any living person possesses the wisdom of Moses. Rather, I am simply saying that her fine character conduces to wisdom—a readiness to listen to diverse opinions, but to draw rational and independent conclusions, rather than succumbing to emotion and popularity. She’s doer, not an image maker. Unlike too many political novelists and aspirants, she does not avoid taking controversial stands on serious national issues.
Here, allow me to mention the first Sarah, Abraham’s beautiful wife. Did not God tell Abraham to defer to Sarah when she expelled Ishmael from her household because of Ishmael’s defective character?
But make no mistake. Even a person of the highest character is not flawless, The Bible does not conceal the flaws of its greatest heroes and heroines. That’s what makes them human, so real, and so worthy of emulation.
I will not dignify those who are casting aspersion on the Palin family, certainly not by vulgar mediacrats or by neo-Democrats that have degraded the Democratic party that harks back to Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman—presidents who would never have advocated same-sex marriages, live-birth abortions, non-judgmentalism or morally free sentimentalism in foreign affairs,. These were men of Character—in the no nonsense tradition of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
Read Talleyrand of France, Gladstone of Great Britain, and you will see that America has a reputation of having an unequalled tradition of great statesmen, of men who candidly and fearlessly and addressed national issues, not family matters. They were not image-makers but history-makers.
Of course, it’s too early to assess Governor Sarah Palin as a national leader. Still, excuse my ruminatins: I like her name, which in Hebrew means princess. I like the Israeli flag in her office, which signifies an appreciation of Israel’s importance to America. I like her dealing with issues and avoiding negative campaigning.
She knows that what American voters must focus on is not private matters but on public issues: above all a nuclear Iran, because Iran is the epicenter of Islamic terrorism and Islamic imperialism. Indeed, a nuclear Iran will control the Middle East as well as Europe and thereby pauperize America. And this is not all.
Unlike neo-Democrats, Governor Palin does not pooh pooh the significance of the Russian invasion of America’s ally, Georgia and the resurgence of Russian imperialism.
She is aware of the dependence of the United States on Saudi oil, which has enabled the Saudis to penetrate American government.
She knows that multinational corporations have established “economic colonies” in American government, which can only diminish American jobs, harm the working class, and even undermine America national sovereignty and American democracy.
This is why we want a president and a vice-president of CHARACTER, possessing a solid record of public service, of unselfish devotion to America and American values, values rooted in the Judea-Christian tradition, the fondest hope of mankind.
So let us have serious debates about serious pubic issues. Let us scorn the titillations of the media, the detractors of Sarah Palin and her family. America is better than that.
Let us set an example to American youth and to nations abroad by the raising the level of public debate. Let us listen to what an independent and intelligent vice-presidential candidate has to say about the basic issues confronting our country. And let us pray, as America’s Founding Fathers prayed, that our future president and vice-president will be graced by wisdom and wholehearted dedication to the common good.
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2 comments:
Greetings,
While I concur with you strongly, on the threat of Islamism, one I do not take lightly,
I disagree strongly too, on the relying on a Princess to save us, allow me to clarify why, if I may.
It is not Palin's character or family or life that I object to, nor will I attack her on that, and yes, I am an independent leftist, and a very vocal feminist who doesn't compromise women's human rights or children's human rights for Any political or religious ideology.
However, I do strongly believe, that Palin, much like Obama [within the left] are clever symbolisms, used by the political machinery on Both sides of the political forces, as the means of a Cult de Force, to steer AND socially engineer the masses into a TOTALITARIAN STATE, very much like the nation states did during WWII [or prior to].
You like many others only see Palin as a strong woman character, lets not forget, btw, Hitler too, had strong moral 'character' and was extremely moral, as was Stalin [in contrast to Trotsky and even Lenin] or at least, in what was portrayed in state propaganda. I do get a bit concerned when our political decision making is influenced by outward appearances based on a type of 'moral patriotism' rather than Issues that those candidates are working on OR the alliances of 'extremes' that are pulling the strings behind the scenes.
And I strongly believe there is a danger when society's citizens are lured to support Any type of political 'messiah' no matter how good those leaders may appear to be, we should Always look at the issues as well as the entire problems both internationally and domestically when we look at candidacy.
You may see McCain and Palin as the means to steer America back to the days of a time where religion, patriarchy and moral values based upon those ideals, etc.,
I see them totally different from that for several reasons and Why I believe, they will ultimately fail.
Let me state, I do not support Obama neither and that, Obama also, is cleverly used as a symbolism on the other side of the political scale but yet, one that isn't as different as the extremes in the right, especially when it comes to 'controlling society' and
under a form of theocratic rule.
I will say, I do strongly believe, no matter how many flags of Israel they may have, both, are detrimental to the protection of Israel but for different reasons, in how in the long term ramifications will, either bring about the war against Israel, Jews and yes, Human Rights,
or, delay those ramifications yet, create the foundation necessary for a backlash that will in the end, bring about those means to an end. In other words, I strongly believe, that in relying on a very similar fascist model of society, that is neo-conservative will in the end, work against Israel, not for her.
Maybe not by 'intent', no, but by the key differences in America, our society to day, our social conscience and the morals within American society, because no matter what type of government that attempts to force 'morals' by social engineering,
the results intended will not be the results manifested because the one main problem in America, is in fact, the extreme individualism and self-interests which relies on greed and self-gratification which, btw, has only served to create
a social tolerance and normalization for hedonism.
I see America very much like pre-war Germany, Berlin, and the attempts to build a strong moral nation very much along the lines of Hitler and Mussolini, Especially when it concerns the control over WOMEN.
Society, begs for it, either for the messiah in the Right or the messiah in the Left,
but the rot, is within society itself and no type of government, can change that, UNLESS they confront,
the root of the problem itself, and that, is, the love of materialism in this society above all else. A love for materialism that has justified on so many levels the exploitation, indifference and apathy, not just to the political but to the international state of affairs and most of all,
to the status of citizens within our very own country.
In other words, even within the most conservative and 'moral' segments in our society, they are extremely two faced, where in on the out they appear moral, but within, the rot of moral decay and decadence is so deep that there is no conscience, or very little, towards the neighbor and even within the family.
And this shows more in the treatment and scourge of women and children in this society, particularly women of color, women from the underclass and women, believe it or not, that do not fit the imagery of the American Princess.
That may not seem like a big deal to many, but the disastrous effects are the children that suffer because of those patriarchal and yes, extremely misogynist political stratifications against women and children. WE do not have the beliefs in this country, in MEN as well as women, that they Did back in the days of Roosevelt and Hoover,
and even then, there was hypocrisy and misery Which, btw, did open the doors to the far left influences.
What the Right fails to take ownership of or even recognition of, is that it was the Hypocrisy of morals, in this country, even then, that opened the door to the Reactionary movements of the far left and left in the sixties, even prior to,
racism, blatant sexism and indifference to all kinds of abuses to women And children, abuses to yes, minorities, classism, and lets not forget sir,
anti-semitism. Anti-Semitism that was for so many years under the moral character of Christianity in this country,
justified or ignored.
You may see Palin as a Princess and a savior, I see the 'manipulation of social engineers' of Palin as the symbol, for the creation of a Totalitarian State,
liturgy and all, very similar to Mussolini and Hitler's regimes with, a mix of Stalin's supermother for Mother Russia.
The same way the left, is using Obama as the symbolism of the self-determinist nationalist [Stalin and Pan-Islamist] as a messiah on the other end, by social engineers.
Both, totalitarian and Both, will lead to either attacks on Israel, Jews and human rights or,
will be a clever betrayal to Israel, Jews and yes, Human Rights because,
of the stratifications and yes, development and 'goals' of those who run the multi-nationals and Even if, lets say, McCain and Palin work to build a solitary and isolated America, in today's economic interdependence it simply cannot work.
Palin and McCain may be aware of the multi-national ownership in this country [which btw is too far gone to reverse] however,
by creating a mass segment of impoverished and very low status of women and children in this country, because America isn't going to change on that,
that will only serve to do one thing,
open the door to More leaning towards the disenfranchised to Islamism, who will be there, arms open, promising to rescue those,
who have been exploited, controlled and left to rot in the gutter...and that sir, is the Women in this nation...
and don't think it can't happen because it IS happening all over Europe. Let us not forget, who is leaning to Obama and the propaganda of the far left forces,
and those numbers will grow as political discontent, especially those who are suffering economically, because of none other than the hedonism and selfishness of American society.
By glorifying a Super Mother and controlling or 'force pregnancies' of women who, today can't even support the children they have now, whether single or married,
or if they can, they are just one step on the edge to losing everything,
no healthcare, no childcare, no affordable housing, no expendable income Like they had in the days of Roosevelt [well, depression aside] and Hoover,
a mass going back to Leave it to Beaver society in this country With the level of extreme misogyny and contempt for women and children that there is today,
will lead to a disaster.
The ideals of going back, while they may be good, are very much idealistic and yes, Utopic,
very much like the Utopic ideas of the Change campaign of Obama.
We simply do not have the infrastructure OR the desire to build on in this country to support a wide mass population boom by Force.
It will crash on itself and with dire consequences, leaving us ripe and vulnerable for yes,
both Islamism and the far left alliances who will be there picking up those disenfranchised, angry at the betrayals, and disillusioned.
They are doing it now, if the Right keeps feeding into that FOR SAVING NONE OTHER THAN CAPITALIST GREED,
it will backfire on them and in a very big way. Yes Iran is a threat, but more of a threat, is those forces within this country and Iran is not the only Islamist threat to America...
we need a Strong America, not a Crippled America with a mass population boom of women and children who are abandoned [worse children] in a third world status [and it is happening in cities all across this country] with out doing something about THOSE issues,
and the problem is, the Right will NOT deal with those issues because to do so they would have to change so much about our economic structure and they won't do it.
You know, as well as I do, that the state of Israel, which btw, had socialist roots, has a very different policy and ideology when it comes to taking care of its citizens, women included,
where as in America, its to hell with women, knock them up and if they can't succeed too damn bad. Well, they can knock them up [banning abortion and banning birth control which the birth control is the Real agenda, banning that, see Bush and HHS draft],
we will be more like Romania with abandoned children, we don't even have the finances to deal with the DYING FOSTER CARE in this country, without paying those families and Thats with tax payer dollars, and its the Republicans who cut those programs,
as well as the Dems, they may be two parties but they might as well be the same quarter with two different faces.
And what is so infuriating is that while we won't take care of our women and children in this country, we won't even allow tent cities which just the fact that women and children are a huge growing population of HOMELESS in this country, need those,
but we will pay Through Catholic Charities I might add, for more Muslim immigration with social programs paying for, who demand SHARIA LAW right in our own backyard and our legal system [right and left] and corporations and capitalists,
are appeasing them.
Sacrificing those mothers and children to do so...and our solution,
is to create more mothers?
We can't and don't WANT to take care of the ones we have now...and even if, lets say, hypothetical, we produce this mass population of biological fodder for the nation-state military machine, the poor,
we have a system that looks the other way when our women are raped [in extreme high numbers] in our military WHILE ON DUTY, as well as rapes of men WHILE ON DUTY--its called 'command rape',
which is, fueling a lot of our military to be opposed to both the government and to the war effort, and keep feeding That, especially abuses to women [and courts taking children away from women in our armed services btw],
that will Backfire as well.
The Right needs to confront AND DEAL with their own moral hypocrisy and especially their 'sexism' which is blatant, and That includes their refusal to address their own trafficking of women, sexually exploiting women and especially those women with children who are the most vulnerable, as well as exploiting children, including in labor, i.e., sweatshop labor.
Because if they aren't willing to do that, all the Princesses in the world won't save us,
lets not forget, they have Princesses in Islam too, who in their wealth and grandeur justify honor killings, Sharia, and hate and killing of Jews.
Just because they appear to be moral and messianic, doesn't mean,
they are good for us.
With sincerity,
Natasha
director of WAMI
p.s. I am working on a series of comparisons and analysis of the SuperWoman/Mother role/symbolism in Totalitarian states, and I do believe, the choosing of Palin, is for that purpose, not to attack Palin as a person, no,
but I suspect very strongly, there is more to the picture than what many Want to see. These issues are far more complex and hard to sum up in short form, and I covered not even a fourth here,
but I fear for this country and for the women and children...there is far too much similarity of the social engineering now, clever though it is, and that of the Totalitarian states and Cult of Force, which yes, may be political necessity...but with many key differences especially in scope of our infrastructure and economic philosophies I feel strongly that we are heading for a major disaster that will lead us very vulnerable to yes, those very forces that are hell bent on destroying us. And I can guarantee you, how the Right is working, IS EXACTLY WHAT THE COMMUNIST-PAN-ISLAMIST ALLIANCE WANTS THEM TO DO. That, I know for a fact.
It is not a "Princess" (I suppose you mean Sarah Palin) that we must rely on to save us--and neither is it "the Annointed One," the "Quick-Change Artist," it can only be ourselves that will or will not save ourselves.
By "ouselves," I mean independent leftists, conservatives, feminists, old white men, old black men, young black men, and then women of all ages and colors--Americans all.
Hokey? out of touch with what's happening? Perhaps. But, no one will come to save us who live in this country--whether we love it or deride it.
There are plenty of us who are not blindly following our present and would-be future "leaders."
Leaders are an evil necessity--without them, we would have the mob-rule of anarchy.
There is no--there cannot be--any "steering back" to "religion, patriarchy, moral values, etc. of the past.
We--I mean many of us--are not blind, deaf, and fools. Yes, there are the "string-pullers" behind the illusionary scenes. There is the oligarchy of wealth, position, and power behind those emotion-rousing scenes. There are the alliances amongst that "power elite" that transgresses the imaginary lines of parties and politics.
There are those in our ranks--those of the disaffected--that must and will be gadflies, stinging the "leaders," other elected politicians, officials, and most of all the somnambulating people (I do not want to use the term "the masses" as it smacks of Hitler and his manipulation of them, whom he despised).
Nazism was a theocracy (the "theos" was Hitler and Nordic gods), Islam is a theocracy, and I neither want one here nor in Israel.
No American administration, president, State Department, and U.S. intelligence services were ever "friends" of Israel.
Israel must, as must the Jews, stand alone. Sad, as there are so few, but what can one do?
Neither the Islamic world nor the U.S. nor the other nations ("Quartet" stumbling along, trying to dance a minuet) are Israel's worst enemy.
Israel is that herself.
And so is the United states, its own worst enemy.
You bring up "Human Rights." Tell me, where in the world are these observed? Most want them observed for our enemies only. Coddling and koran-honoring of captured Islamic murderers by the U.S. and bending over backwards to protect any "Palestinian" Arab in Israel and in the Arab-occupied Israeli "Territories."
The human rights of Jews are certainly not held sacred by the Israeli power elite.
Now, you want to rid the American people of the evils of materialism and associated hedonism. How are you proposing to do that? From the top down? Or by by letting the moralists amongst us take it upon themselves to "burn witches?"
You deplore "Social Engineering," but by trying to force your view on the people, you are willing to engage in a bit or more of that.
So who's moral? I mean in the world. The Islamics? Yes, they have strict, enforcable rules, and they enforce them on whomever the theocratic rulers deign immoral.
But what a morality has that Islam!
It is like the morality of Hitler's Nazis. You either submit to our idea of morality, crawl on your belly in the sand, if we let you live, or get your head and limbs hacked off, after a suitable lashing.
No "moral decay" in supposedly "spiritual," "so pure" Islam? Give me a break.
Islamic morality is based on the prurient drive of a "verkackte" unbalanced megalomaniac.
In all the rest of your critique of this country (U.S.A.), you are critiquing human nature--where men--and women also--will do and keep on doing as they have ever since Homo Sapiens began. No "social engineering" nor other force, except death--the threat thereof--will mold--or death itself stop--that nature.
I notice that in your presentation, you started to call me "sir," as if we are antagonists. I refrain from calling you "ma'am" or "ms,' because I am not your antagonist.
Having had my actions and decisions molded by a woman and then by our children, I neither feel as an all-powerful patriarch nor oppresor of women and children.
On a less personal note, the what you call "disenfranchised" adrift in our society, especially the women and children, they want help to come from somewhere "on the top."
Certain segments of our society bring their misery on themselves, among those and among others there is a tendency just to drift and demand that somebody "up there" pick them up and let them have all the material goods they see that the ones on top have.
Should we all work hard so that the "bottom dwellers" can have everything that we have?
Should we turn the society "bottoms up" the whole world as a matter of fact, which is what the Obama and his adulators wish for?
Rhetorical questions.
I should resent you, madam, for having made me spend all this time answering you. But I don't. I know what you are saying and you are right: the world is not as it should be. But then, neither is the universe.
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