If kind, caring people ran the planet, the phrase “holy war” would be contradictory and “war crime” redundant. But, alas, the opposite is true: War isn’t criminalized; according to international treaties, war is perfectly legal (in way too many scenarios, anyway). And wars aren’t just holy; according to Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and others, they’re sometimes divinely mandated – and then, it would be sinful NOT to wage war.
When you read the letters of our Founding Fathers, there’s a clear, causal link between the Declaration of Independence and the theory of regicide. Since our Creator endows us with certain inalienable rights, we, therefore, have a God-given right to wage war and kill a monarch who’d deprive us of them.
The constitutional precept of presidential impeachment stems directly from regicide: As Ben Franklin pointed out, when you compare the two, impeachment was in a president’s best interest because otherwise, the only mechanism for removing an unfit leader would be assassination, rendering the ex-president “not only deprived of his life but of the opportunity of vindicating his character.”
There’s a bipartisan consensus that conflict is moral and necessary. Alas, we just don’t agree on when that is. And there’s no hope whatsoever for resolution because Republicans and Democrats have fundamental disagreements over how morality is defined.
This doesn’t mean we can’t work together. There’s actually a fairly decent track record of bipartisan cooperation in the crafting of laws for purely pragmatic purposes. When pragmatism – rather than morality – is the objective, the legislative wheels move quicker than we think. Often, there’s overreach, but the scales of justice tend to find an equilibrium (more or less).
Do you know why?
Laws written to help society run more efficiently – think of speed limits or drunk driving laws – are testable. In democracies, outcome-based laws are (usually) our fairest laws because the inequities tend to be transparent. If there’s a means of testing, we also know if it succeeded.
Moral laws – and moral issues – are quite different.
The trouble with moral laws is, was, and will forever be a lack of testability. Pragmatic laws don’t share this malady. Morality, however, is a more nebulous concept, fraught with complex theories that are faith-based by nature and untestable by empirical science.
And so we argue about it.
Mankind’s greatest thinkers have sought to unravel God’s divine code and decipher ultimate morality. With logical reasoning (and heavenly inspiration, perhaps), we should be able to agree on a general axiom: A moral law, morally applied, should never lead to an immoral outcome. Right? This seems to indicate at least a modicum of outcome-based testing. So… progress?
Nope.
Logical reasoning devolves into circular reasoning: If we can’t agree on what defines our moral framework, then we’ll never agree on the construction of moral laws, moral outcomes, moral objectives, moral actions, or moral anything else.
When there’s no foundation, there’s no ceiling.
This takes us to the Democratic Party. No longer is this the political party of your forefathers. Today’s Democrats are on an exodus through the ideological wilderness, searching for a brand-new Holy Land (or policy position).
But they’re not all walking in the same direction. This is a tribe with more Moses(es) than followers.
For Jews, the annual Passover Seder includes a story of four brothers: a wise son, an evil son, a simple son, and a son incapable of speech. Perhaps it was a coincidence, or perhaps it was divinely deliberate, but on this issue, there are now four kinds of Democrats. (I’ll let you decide who’s wise, evil, etc.)
First is the traditional Democrat. He or she admires Israel as a vibrant, thriving democracy in a region antithetical to Western liberty. It’s an egalitarian nation with equality for women and the LGBTQ community. Sure, these Democrats are uncomfortable with Bibi Netanyahu playing footsies with the GOP and wish the settlements would stop, but they’re pro-Israel and don’t really understand why anyone would think otherwise. Jews are a minority, and they need our support!
Demographically, this “son” is the oldest of the brothers by a wide margin. Were it not for his wallet, his influence within the party would be radically diminished.
The second group is the grassroots Democrats. These Democrats look at the State of Israel and instantly see a bunch of white people lording over the darker-skinned natives. To these Democrats, Israel is an illegitimate nation borne of racism, colonialism, Islamophobia, and imperialism. By instinct, this is a group that’s frothingly antagonistic of Judeo-Christian religion anyway, so the idea of white Jews and Christians claiming that “God” gave them someone else’s land isn’t just preposterous – it’s a grave injustice. More than anything else, it REALLY ticks them off when Jews pretend to be a minority; everyone can plainly see that they’re rich, privileged white people! So, they’re not just anti-Israel; they also traffic in antisemitism.
This “son” is the youngest in the Democratic Party. These people are also the loudest and the most digital, greatly amplifying their perceived numbers. But time is on their side. They’re growing, and the future is theirs.
Third are the apathetic Democrats (on this policy). For them, Israel is an annoying nonissue, an unpleasant distraction. These aren’t religious people anyway, so they don’t really have a reason to ever think about a “Holy Land.” They support liberal causes and are passionate about things like abortion, gun control, and the environment, but Israel ranks up there with South Korea, Kenya, or Portugal among topics du jour.
Still, they’re aware that the Democratic Party has many overlapping interests, and as long as their pet project isn’t slaughtered, they’re content to go with the flow. If everyone says that Israel is a vital democracy and needs our help, okay; if everyone says the Palestinians are suffering and deserve concessions, that’s okay, too. Their most extraordinary trait is their lack of extraordinary traits; their defining characteristic is apathy.
Of all the “sons,” this group is the largest and most demographically diverse. It’s a plurality of all Democrats – a sleeping giant that continues to sleep. But beware: The sleeping mind is an unthinking mind, so these Democrats are also the most malleable.
This is the son that the others manipulate.
The final “son” is the most dangerous. Demographically, these Democrats are the smallest; by influence, they’re – by far – the greatest. These are the Machiavellian Democrats—the partisan opportunists and professional kingmakers who aren’t just aware of the party divisions on Israel; they plot to manipulate these divisions to advance their own interests. It’s more of an old-old-old school kind of politics – call it realpolitik – and its German origins aren’t the only aspect that might make Jewish Americans uncomfortable.
Instead of apathy, they’re aggressive; instead of being guided by morality, they’re guided by unrelenting, uncompromising, single-focused pragmatism. To them, it’s all outcome-based politics. Winning is the ONLY thing that matters. If it’s useful today to use antisemitic tropes to isolate Israel and beat the GOP, they’ll do so; if it’s useful tomorrow to defend Israel and accuse MAGA of antisemitism, they’ll do that as well.
For them, the Jews and Israel are a means to an end – and an end of the beginning. It’s not personal; it’s not moral; it’s simply politics. And their messianic fever dream is a permanent Democratic majority.
What makes this group so dangerous is that it's playing all the angles, putting its fingers on the scales. These Democrats have perfected the art of incremental gains. Israel means absolutely nothing to them – it’s a pawn they’re willing to sacrifice without even blinking.
When the time comes – and it’s coming sooner than you think – this “son” will sense that its eldest brother is suitably weakened. That’s when he’ll pounce, joining camp with the grassroots brother, pulling the apathetic brother along with them.
And the Democratic Party will, finally, be fully, 100% anti-Israel. This is its ultimate destiny.
Call them four sons if you’re Jewish. Call them four horsemen if you’re Christian. Whatever they are and whatever you call them, these are the forces within the Democratic Party waging a holy war over the Holy Land.
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