Chicago and other charades
As a non-American, I am always astounded when every four years millions of dollars are spent in hosting Hollywood style political extravaganzas.
Michael Kuttner
One would have thought that by now a much better and more intelligent method might have been found in order to choose a candidate for President of the United States.
It seems to be a perversion of the true democratic process if the only individuals deemed worthy of standing for this position are those with either the biggest bank accounts or those with the richest friends and patrons.
This is not a new phenomenon but it has demonstrably grown in recent years. Allied with corruption of materialistic greed is the necessity these days to have some sort of charismatic media appeal. Once can be the dumbest candidate on the planet and unable to string together coherent sentences but as long as the teleprompter works and you look appealing then you are in with a good chance.
Other attributes likely to help a prospective Presidential candidate in today’s screwed up woke world is a mix of the right ethnicity and a spouse who can spout the most politically correct nonsense.
FDR picked Harry Truman as his running mate because he conceivably posed no threat. Truman was after all a bland non controversial ex-haberdasher and thus Roosevelt reasoned he would not pose a threat to the White House. That is why the Vice President was kept in the dark over the most sensitive military developments. When Truman assumed the Presidency after FDR’s sudden death he was totally unprepared for the momentous decisions needed to ensure victory over Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.
Despite everything, Harry Truman turned out to be one of the most successful Presidents of modern times. He had what unfortunately far too many others lack and that was common sense, a determination to confront unpopular decisions and a clear vision of what needed to be done. His successes vividly turn the spotlight on to the recent and current abysmal choices faced by American voters.
It never ceases to amaze me that the alleged standard bearer of democracy and freedom has such a warped and corrupted system for electing its leaders and legislative representatives.
The very essence of a democratic system should be to give its citizens the widest choice of aspirants so that all sectors of society can have a fair chance of being elected. Yet, amazingly, there are only two political parties with any possibility of success on offer. No independent or other alternative choice is available because these individuals have zero possibility of winning. In fact, even when some brave soul tries to challenge the two established parties they are ruthlessly squashed.
Thus, the American voter is denied the chance to pick someone who might be eminently suitable but is not an approved devotee of either of the two established political groups. As an American neighbour of mine pointed out this effectively disenfranchises millions of potential undecided voters and those not enamored with either candidate.
Another major flaw is the fact that instead of the person who polls the highest number of votes being elected President, the result hinges on an electoral college with unequal representation from the various states.
In order to vote one must be a citizen. This is a basic requirement in any true democracy. This year in the USA there are moves afoot to make illegal border infiltrators eligible to vote. This could be a blatant attempt by one party to garner votes and it will be interesting to see if it succeeds. An American friend from Chicago told me that back in the days of Mayor Daley the slogan was “vote early and vote often.”
Corruption of the electoral process is therefore not a new phenomenon.
The Republican and Democratic conventions followed a similar Hollywood style format with plenty of hoopla, hot air and hyperventilated rhetoric. Both crowned their Presidential choices and running mates without any semblance of a contest. The assembled multitudes indulged in mass chants which reminded me of the brainwashed crowds at North Korean and Chinese political indoctrination rallies.
However, in certain crucial aspects the Chicago extravaganza differed markedly.
It featured the dumped President trying to put a positive face on his ouster and past incumbents as well as other hangers on extolling his supposed single handed victories in overcoming Covid, rescuing the USA from economic disaster and defeating the forces of jihadist terror. It is a testament to the gullibility of those present and the media which peddled this nonsense that all these claims were received with rapturous adoration.
The next notable difference was the actions of the frenzied anti Israel/Zionist demonstrators on the streets of Chicago. The determination of the police to thwart violence may have contributed to the lower than predicted turnout but the mobs which marched and shouted made it clear what their message to the Democratic Party means. Much to the relief of the convention organizers the blatant haters were excluded from the hall so that an image of civility could be projected to the world at large.
The very mention of the word Israel in Chicago was very hard to find, whereas at the Republican convention full throated support of Israel and its war against terror was a noticeable feature. The assembled delegates may have chanted “bring them home” but in the absence of any meaningful support for the war against jihadist terror it is very hard to see how short of capitulating to a mass terrorist release this will be achieved. In fact I wonder how many delegates even know that thousands of rockets are being fired into Israel every week.
Another notable feature at the DNC was the need for Jewish groups to hold meetings in secret. Like the clandestine Spanish Jews evading the Catholic Inquisition, Jewish Chicago attendees were forced to gather anonymously lest the rampaging haters discovered their Zionist sympathies and caused chaos.
Speakers touting their Jewish roots were trotted on to the podium in order to deliver excruciating revelations about their loyalty to the Party and how this impacts their ethnicity. Unsurprisingly the words Israel and Zionist never escaped their lips. Ironically, Bernie Sanders, the only one to mention Israel did so in his usual negative connotation about the war against Gaza terror.
It was left to Kamala Harris and her husband to make a star studded appearance and give those assembled and everyone watching via media, an insight into what passes for “Jewish” these days in the USA and what can be expected in the four years to come.
The current “second gentleman” and aspiring “first gentleman” revealed to everyone how he defines his Jewish identity. Apparently it was Kamala, his non Jewish spouse, who urged him to become more deeply interested with his faith. He recounted how he took the bus to Hebrew School lessons, which seems an irrelevance. He admitted that Kamala, his second spouse, encouraged him to become more closely involved with the problem of Jew hate, something apparently not on his previous radar. Then he waxed enthusiastically how Kamala attends a Jewish service on the High Holidays and how he attends Church at Easter.
The piece de resistance was him extolling the wonderful brisket that Kamala cooks for Passover. After reading this riveting bit of news I wondered if perhaps he had become a follower of the Brisker Rav (Rabbi). If one needed proof of how assimilation has mangled the future of the American Jewish future this provided ample proof.
The sad fact is that any Jewish identity stops with him and certainly does not pass on to the next generation. Anyone who believes that a Jewish Presidential spouse will be a bulwark against rapidly rising anti Israel, Zionist and Jewish hate is living in a fantasy world.
Having made no mention of Israel it was the turn of Kamala to make her acceptance speech to the rapturous masses. She read the prompter flawlessly and demonstrated her accolade of being the candidate of joy by laughing and whooping.
In between these expressions of hilarity the Democratic candidate attempted to portray an image of being the potential savior of the country as it faces unprecedented challenges to its security.
Attempting to assure voters that Israel had nothing to fear she danced a delicate balancing act designed to placate both supporters of Israel and the progressively left haters of the Jewish State.
To my mind, her waffling word salads exemplify exactly why Israelis and those who stand with the Zionist enterprise must be very wary of a future Harris/Walz administration.
“The Israel – Hamas war must end so that Palestinians can have dignity, security and freedom and self determination.”
This one sentence encapsulates the underlying ignorance and cluelessness of the current and possible forthcoming White House.
Totally absent is any admission that the Arabs now reincarnated as Palestinian descendants of the ancient Canaanites have had nearly 80 years to achieve these objectives. Their continual refusal to do so and instead their single minded efforts to deny Jewish sovereignty remains at the root of the problem.
An inability and indeed stubborn refusal by democratic nations to acknowledge these truths and the subversion of international bodies by terror supporters has resulted in the current mess we face.
Unfortunately, witnessing the circus in Chicago I have no confidence that the next four years under Harris will be other than capitulation to woke scenarios and policies detrimental to Israel and Jews.
Michael Kuttner is a Jewish New Zealander who for many years was actively involved with various communal organisations connected to Judaism and Israel. He now lives in Israel and is J-Wire’s correspondent in the region.
