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.
I should have noted in my message about the weekly Torah portion that this week is Shabbat Chazon, the Sabbath of Vision. We are about to mourn -- but see through that pain to something better that lies beyond, on the other side.
Wishing you the best vision -- and an incredible reality to follow. It happens!
We begin the final speech of Moses to the people of Israel before they enter the Promised Land. He relates the ups and downs of the years of wandering in the desert, before, finally, the people have the merit to enter the land itself.
This Sabbath always precedes Tisha B'Av, the Ninth of Av, the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. It is the anniversary of the destruction of both of the Holy Temples, and a catch-all for many calamities that befell the Jewish people.
A word on Tisha B'Av. This year I am leaving for an overseas trip during the afternoon of the holiday -- in the middle of a fast day. Not idea, but there was no other choice. But my flight is in the afternoon, which is significant.
We relax some of the harsh, mournful customs of the day in the afternoon. We start to pray normally; we sit on regular chairs; we start to have hope again in the redemption that will, one day, lead us all back from exile to our home.
I'll be taking a trip to a land where an important part of ...
President Trump is in Scotland, playing golf and making big trade deals -- a major deal with the EU, in fact. Meanwhile, there is a global outcry about humanitarian aid to Palestinians (not about the Israeli hostages, mind you).
On top of that, Democrats are at their lowest polling numbers ever -- so they are trying to win control of the House by redistricting in the middle of a 10-year Census cycle. Oh, economic optimism is up, so they have a tough road.
And Tulsi Gabbard's revelations about the Russia collusion investigation make it clear that Obama's lieutenants lied to Congress. How deeply was he himself involved? The media continue to ignore the evidence, but we certainly won't.
Special guests:
Nick Gilbertson - Breitbart News White House correspondent, on EU deal
Frances Martel - Breitbart News foreign editor, on Trump abroad and Russia
John Spencer - urban warfare expert, on humanitarian aid and war in Gaza
Bradley Jaye - Breitbart News congressional correspondent, on the ...
