I had great plans to try some eclipse photography today. It was not to be. Up here in the Inland Northwest, we were expecting about 75% of the solar eclipse. Instead, we got 100% cloud cover. Boo! So I'm gonna offer some unpopular opinions about current events instead.
Biden and his challengers are all eager to leap on the bandwagon to support Israel as tensions between that country and Hamas exploded into open war a few days ago. The situation is complex, and to a certain extent, I am unqualified to discuss it, but that doesn't seem to be stopping anyone else, either.
Never mind how the Palestinians are also a Semitic people, any criticism of Israel is immediately framed as anti-Semitic racism if not overt Nazism. To hell with that. No nation-state is beyond critique, and no government should be considered truly representative of the people they rule no matter how "democratic" their system may be. Not even ethnostates selling nationality and ethnicity as being intertwined.
Israel is a de facto apartheid state occupying lands that are not its property and treating the former denizens as second-class citizens for generations. The Gaza Strip is effectively a concentration camp with extra steps. Explanations are not justifications, and I don't intend to offer an apology for terrorism. None of this justifies killing Israeli citizens. They are not co-conspirators sharing some kind of genetic guilt by default. That said, pretending the Palestinians are just mindless savages avoids discussing the deeper problems while sounding sanctimonious.
I would like to step beyond the usual debate and offer a real solution. Republican candidates, if you want to protect Israel, here is how you do it:
New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new States shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.
—Article IV, section 3, clause 1, United States Constitution
See? Simple as that. I put on my minarchist dunce cap to meet you half way and offer a plan of action. If Israelis want taxpayer money, they can vote to become taxpayers, too. If they want US military aid, they can join the US and serve in the military themselves. Same for Ukraine, Taiwan, South Korea, and anywhere else the US government wants to meddle.
I know this will infuriate a lot of Christians who have dedicated themselves to their own peculiar forms of Zionism. I just challenge you to reexamine the Bible. Our Kingdom is not of this world, and we have a new covenant. None of these wars and governments exhibit the Fruit of the Spirit or the Seven Virtues, and instead embody the Seven Deadly Sins. We serve the Prince of Peace, not Mars. This latest wave of death and destruction is not resolved by taking sides and funding more of the same injustices and abuses which triggered this violent response.
There ya go, and off-the-cuff hot take. Agree? Disagree? Wanna call me names because I don't fall in lockstep with the current thing? Please comment and vote as you see fit.
