June 27, 2010
To My Liberal Relative
I knew instinctively that I probably shouldn't have done it but after 18 months of Obama rule, I thought perhaps that my liberal friends and family might have begun to have their own doubts about Obama. So I sent off the American Thinker article entitled "So What's a Patriot to Do? Confront a Liberal Today" by Kyle-Anne Shiver.
It was not a good bonding moment.
I received in reply the following retort.
I can't help but think that all this criticism of Obama is really disguised racism just like criticism of Israel is disguised anti-Semitism.
Whereupon I sent back Shelby Steele's article entitled "Israel and the Surrender of the West" as well as the list of articles written by Lloyd Marcus. I also asked my relative why Holder dismissed the case where Black Panthers intimidated voters in a clear cut (it is on You Tube) case of voter intimidation?
It got better. My other relative responded with,
So...what's next on your "to do" list? Join the NRA? Privatize Social Security?Seriously, can we please just agree to disagree? And can you please not send us these sorts of emails anymore? I'm not going to change your mind; you are not going to change ours.Signed,Your Out Gay, New York City Apartment Dwelling, Registered Democrat, Anti-War, Atheist, Pacifist, PROUDLY LIBERAL Brother.
In a last ditch effort I wrote back the following:
DearIt is precisely because you and ____ are gay that Obama scares me. He surrounds himself with people who are true believers in sharia law (Rashid Khalidi, Dalia Mogahed, and Rashad Hussain). Sharia law clearly states that gays are to be stoned. In fact, Elana Kagan has some explaining to do ~ while she appears to want to end the "don't tell" rule, she accepted money from the Saudis when she was at Harvard. That is hypocritical. I still recall when the prince of Saudi Arabia gave Giuliani "blood money" right after 9-11. Giuliani declined it because he knew full well that the Wahabbi Saudis were and are the guiding light and source of money to terrorists.I am also extremely concerned with the clear tilt toward jihadists that Obama has made since he became president. His alleged peaceful offers to Iran, for example, have only emboldened Ahmadinejad. The idea that a mosque will be built on the site of the WTC is offensive to me and is a clear threat to my "New York City Apartment Dwelling Brother." If the individual in charge of this mosque, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, were truly a moderate, I would not have a problem but his record shows otherwise.I am not comfortable with guns so I am unlikely to be joining the NRA.I have been a democrat, a republican and an independent. I vote for the person, not the party.I am anti-war except when my country is attacked and then I do see the need to defend it.Pacifism is great until the nuke is headed your way and Iran's leader keeps threatening Israel (little Satan) and America (big Satan) with annihilation and destruction. In fact, Jose Maria Aznar, former Prime Minister of Spain penned a piece "Support Israel: if it goes down, we all go down--Anger over Gaza is a distraction."Liberalism in its classical sense is all about less government intervention, not more. Obviously, some government intervention is necessary ~ eventually Mom was going to need federal money [for the nursing home] when her own funds ran dry. But Obama has increased the deficit (which Bush had, unfortunately, begun) to unsustainable levels. The country will not be able to pay for any of the programs. No country can spend more than it makes. Thus, rationing will occur. Health care will be reduced and we will not be able to invest in research and development of new drugs and new medical devices.Look at Greece and Spain. They are drowning in debt and are on the verge of collapse. Germany's Merkel has already told Obama that he is headed in the wrong direction economically.I am not at odds with you personally; I just believe that too many details are being omitted in the regular media. The standard media outlets have, for the most part, abdicated their responsibility to tell all the information. Certainly, I have become more educated, enlightened, and concerned as I have learned to read beyond The New York Times. The facts are the facts. All I ask is that you regularly check (online) the Wall Street Journal; IBDeditorials; FrontPage, Act for America; and Caroline Glick's and Charles Krauthammer's columns -- also available online. Read books by Nonie Darwish, Robert Spencer and Brigitte Gabriel. Darwish lived in Egypt for 30 years and speaks from firsthand experience about rule under a closed Moslem society--her own father was a shaheed (martyr); Robert Spencer has ferreted out information about the infiltration of extreme jihadism in this country and Brigitte Gabriel has written how she, as a Lebanese Christian was forced to flee her country because of the likes of Hamas and Hezbollah. She has adopted America and is passionate about warning Americans of the impending dangers of radical Islam.Moreover, Obama has said that [he] "is a Muslim" (see Pamela Geller in American Thinker).I don't wrap my head in any flag. Of course, there are warts in this country, but we fix them. I am disgusted with some events that occur in Israel (women being denied access to the Wall; haredi intolerance; and the ongoing agunah situation. Living in a theocracy such as Israel would be difficult. I am not afraid to speak out about these problems but to ignore the genuine existential threat to Israel is beyond my comprehension.Would I actually endure anger and verbal abuse if I didn't really think this were important?
Historian Martin Gilbert once said that Winston Churchill never considered himself a great man because by the time he was finally elected, it was only because no one had listened to him earlier when he warned Great Britain of the impending terror of the National Socialist German Workers Party of Nazi Germany. Instead Neville Chamberlain appeased the tyrant and the war became a certainty, killing millions. Though I certainly do not compare myself to Churchill, I ardently believe that the alarm must be steadily sounded about Obama if we are to save this nation.
Esther Green is a pseudonym.