Conservatism and Anti-Semitism

At the beginning of the 20th century, my grandfather's older brother (who was then a little boy) moved with his family to America.  Their path was a standard one – a ship across the Atlantic and then quarantined on Ellis Island.  They eventually settled in Pittsburgh.

At the end of the 20th century, our family completed their relocation to America.  We have no more close relatives living outside of America.  I do not know what the political preferences of those relatives were who arrived in America before us, but we came into America as staunch anti-communists.  Also, we had a complete list of those family members who did not survive the Shoah.

We brought with us a clear understanding of who organized the Shoah.  However, before we moved to America, we were unaware that most American Jews (many of whom are adherents of leftist, socialist ideology) did not want to see the truth about this.  The reality that the Shoah was organized by their ideological cousins – the German National Socialists – is very unpleasant for a particular part of American Jewry.

This is why a section of American Jews behave as if the Shoah did not happen at all.  They act as if in America there is no openly anti-Semitic party – the Democratic party.  Moreover, some of them are even members of this party.

Many American Jews behave as if they do not understand that the Democratic Party has made a complete ideological turn in 190 years of its existence – from the far-right (and racist) party to the far-left (and anti-Semitic) party.

The neo-Nazi who shot 11 people in the Pittsburgh synagogue is known for his posts on Twitter.  Judging by his posts, he was ideologically close not only to the anti-Semite Perez and the anti-Semite Ellison (Chairman of the DNC and his deputy) but also to the anti-Semite Farrakhan.  Farrakhan is also known to be a longtime friend and ally of many bosses of the Democratic Party (for example, Obama and the Clintons).  Both Farrakhan and Ellison belong to the American Nation of Islam organization.  Farrakhan, his followers, and friends call the Jews "termites" and supporters of the "Synagogue of Satan." Both Farrakhan and his followers live among us and regularly come to the polling stations.

The political consequences of this attack are so apparent that even the predictable anti-Trump press blames Trump, but this time the blame is very sluggish and without former enthusiasm.  After all, it is well known that when terrorist attacks occur, Americans prefer to vote for Republicans.  In fact, President Trump, unlike the democratic opposition, immediately declared that this neo-Nazi (who, by the way, hates Trump) should be subjected to capital punishment.  Of course, the voters are impressed.

Why, in such cases, do Americans prefer to vote for Republicans? Because Republicans (more precisely, a certain part of Republicans) play the role of proxy for American conservatives.  Moreover, if the ideology of the classical Republicans is very controversial (they advocate for low taxes but an unlimited federal government), then the doctrine of the conservatives is entirely coherent (they favor low taxes and a limited federal government, as required by the U.S.  Constitution).

Also, conservatives adhere to straightforward rules in the relationship between the state and the citizen.  Conservatives respect the fact that a citizen cannot be blamed for something he or she is not able to change under any circumstances.

Therefore, conservatives will never dare to condemn a person for who their parents are, their place of birth, nationality, or race.  The norms of such behavior are enshrined in the U.S.  Constitution.  At the same time, conservatives believe that some qualities acquired after birth can (and in some cases are merely obligated) serve as the basis for a confrontation between the state and the citizen.  These qualities include ideology, political preferences, morality, and human behavior.

In other words, anti-Semitism (like racism) is a taboo for American conservatives.

After the events in Pittsburgh, fruitless discussions about anti-Semitism will begin again in the American press.  They will be unsuccessful because the ideological and religious components of anti-Semitism will again be hushed up.  For conservatives, such a position is unacceptable.  The attitude shown by the Pittsburgh police officers is more acceptable to them.

As you know, at first, two patrol police officers who answered the call started a shootout with a neo-Nazi in the synagogue.  Both were wounded but remained on scene until the arrival of the SWAT team.  The Pittsburgh SWAT began the assault and rushed under bullets, risking their lives to rescue, entirely unknown to them, Jews.  Two SWAT officers were seriously wounded.  They unloaded several magazines on the terrorist until he collapsed; then he crawled on his knees to the SWAT team, begging for mercy.  Overall, less than 20 minutes passed from the first to the last shot in the synagogue.

This is how real America behaves when it meets with Evil.

This is how we all should consider the midterm elections.  The 2018 elections are not just a midterm election.  It is another episode in the eternal struggle between Good and Evil.

Remember which Democrats came to the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem? Not one arrived.  Recall that the most anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli speech ever heard at the U.N. was not spoken by a representative of a Middle Eastern country with the 7th-century worldview, but by Secretary of State Kerry in the last days of the Obama administration in December 2016.  It seems that the words "anti-Trumpists" and "anti-Semites" have become synonymous.

Anti-Semitism is irrational because it requires Jews to change what they cannot change by definition.  Therefore, the answer to it should be such that even the most arch-irrational anti-Semite understands that neither his position nor any attempts to rationalize it are unacceptable by society in principle.

Now leftists will again propose some purely symbolic "security measures."  For example, to hang in a prominent place another ridiculous "Gun Free Zone" poster although from the very beginning it was clear that such signs are just a magnet for psychos of all stripes.  There will be many symbolic acts of solidarity, such as turning off the night illumination of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.  Thank you, France, but no acts of solidarity and public lightings of candles will help.

In pragmatic America, the Second Amendment to the Constitution provides a direct answer to the question of how to stop similar attacks in the future.

Gary Gindler, Ph.D., is a conservative blogger at Gary Gindler Chronicles.  Follow him on Twitter.

If you experience technical problems, please write to helpdesk@americanthinker.com