Labour won a huge victory in Thursday's elections in the UK, taking nearly two-thirds of the seats in the House of Commons. A resounding victory for the left, perhaps? Well, they will certainly have a mandate, and the power to govern.
But Labour actually lost votes compared to the previous election, which had been a bad year for them. What happened was that the Conservatives lost support because the Conservatives were no longer conservative in any way.
The Conservative leadership could never fully get behind Brexit; then the party went for "green energy" fiascos that raised energy prices; and finally it proved itself totally incapable of standing up to the ongoing problem of mass migration.
Labour certainly won't do anything about that, either. It is a weak party with bad ideas -- which is why it is already being eclipsed in places by Muslim candidates who ran campaigns focused on opposing Israel's war against Hamas terrorists.
The upshot is that Nigel Farage, the man behind Brexit, is now in Parliament, albeit with a tiny party. And from that perch, he will continue to provide ideas and criticism that will expose the rot in both mainstream British parties.
So -- while Labour's victory looks like a step to the left for a major democracy, moving against the overall trend, it is really just a reminder that there is a limit to how much left-wing policy voters will tolerate from a conservative party.
This week’s portion launches the great story of Abraham, who is told to leave everything of his life behind — except his immediate family — and to leave for “the Land that I shall show you.”
There’s something interesting in the fact that Abraham is told to leave his father’s house, as if breaking away from his father’s life — but his father, in fact, began the journey, moving from Ur to Haran (in last week’s portion). His father set a positive example — why should Abraham leave him?
Some obvious answers suggest themselves — adulthood, needing to make one’s own choices, his father not going far enough, etc.
But I think there is another answer. Abraham (known for the moment as Abram) needs to establish his own household. This is not just about making one’s own choice, but really about choosing one’s own starting point. It’s starting over.
Sometimes we start over in fundamental ways even if much that surrounds us remains the same. Sometimes the journey we have to ...
The story of Noah is familiar; the details, less so.
Noah is often seen as an ambivalent figure. He was righteous -- but only for his generation. What was his deficiency?
One answer suggests itself: knowing that the world was about to be flooded, he built an Ark for the animals and for his own family -- but did not try to save anyone else or to convince them to repent and change their ways (the prophet Jonah, later, would share that reluctance).
Abraham, later, would set himself apart by arguing with God -- with the Lord Himself! -- against the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, saying that they should be saved if there were enough righteous people to be found (there were not).
Still, Noah was good enough -- and sometimes, that really is sufficient to save the world. We don't need heroes every time -- just ordinary decency.
Hi all -- as I noted last month, I'm going to be closing down my Locals page, at least for tips and subscriptions -- I may keep the page up and the posts as well, but I'm no longer going to be accepting any kind of payment.
Look for cancelation in the very near future. Thank you for your support!
