It's easy to be liberal -- until they come for what's yours.
Many of us learn that lesson the hard way. I had already begun questioning some of my left-wing beliefs by the time the second intifada started in 2000, but the fact that the left was suddenly hell-bent on destroying Israel certainly prompted me to rethink my political worldview.
I've had liberal friends over the years come up to me over the years and admit that they were having conservative impulses after the government started trying to regulate their business or their hobby. It's fine when the state wants to redistribute someone else's money, or mess with someone else's business, but once they come for yours -- that's a different story.
One of the many drawbacks of an expansive welfare state is that you create that kind of entrenched interest in government programs. "Hands off my Medicare" etc. People have a quasi-"conservative" impulse to protect what they believe they are entitled to, even if it only comes because the state is coercing other people to pay for it. We've even seen some Democrats argue that Republicans should not cut government spending (when Republicans cared about cutting govenrment spending) because doing so went against supposedly "conservative" values, i.e. "conserving" existing government programs.
We've seen the beginnings of a conservative awakening in this country, as the Biden administration has followed the left's direction. But the two forms of "conservatism" -- to protect what exists in the private sector, and to protect what comes from the state -- are doomed to clash. And I'm not optimistic, at the moment, about which of those is likely to prevail.
This is my first broadcast from the new office and studio in Washington, DC, where I'll be for a couple of years my neighborhood back in L.A. cleans up -- and as we follow the Trump administration from a little closer up than usual.
Topics:
- The anniversary of the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump
- The escalating tariff battle with various different trading partners
- The future of the Middle East peace talks, and ongoing antisemitism
- The Jeffrey Epstein files and whether they mean anything at all
- The continued crisis of the Texas floods, and stories of heroism and survival
And more!
Special guests:
- James Rosen - Newsmax chief Washington correspondent
- Bob Price - Breitbart News Texas reporter, on the ongoing floods
- Robert Cahill - Trafalgar Polling, on a new alliance of reliable pollsters
- Rabbi Yaakov Menken - Coalition for Jewish Values - on Israel & antisemitism
Tune in: 7-10 p.m. ET, 4-7 p.m. PT
Call: 866-957-2874
This week’s portion tells the grand story of the prophet who tried to curse people of Israel and instead ended up blessing them.
I am reminded that these portions continue to be relevant anew, as this particular reading lent the title for Israel’s recent 12 Day War against Iran, “Operation Rising Lion.”
This week's portion includes the commandment of the red heifer -- one of the classic "irrational" commandments whose fulfillment is an expression of faith. It also includes the regrettable episode in which Moses strikes the rock.
I referred to this story in a wedding speech last night. Why was Moses punished for striking the rock in Numbers, when he struck the rock without incident in Exodus -- both for the purpose of providing water to the people?
The answer is that in the interim, the Jewish people had received the Torah, which is like the marriage contract between the people of Israel and God. In a marriage, you do not resolve things by breaking boundaries, but through love.
The additional reading, from Judges Chapter 11, is the story of Jephthah (Yiftach), a man whom the leaders spurn, but to whom they must turn to save the nation. The parallels to our present political circumstances are striking.
Shabbat Shalom and Happy Fourth of July!
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