Posted on 10/27/2003 2:45:11 PM PST by quidnunc
Just because you are paranoid it doesn't prove that they are not out to get you. Paranoid, to be sure, was Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's allegation that the "Jews rule this world by proxy" on October 16. Whether Dr Mahathir himself is paranoid, or whether he adapted his words to the paranoia of his audience makes little difference. Through the twisted prism of paranoia, the facts on the ground do indeed suggest that the Jews rule the world.
Europeans who turn up their noses at Malaysia's leader should recall that just 60 years ago, Europe's official ideology (under Nazi conquest) agreed with Mahathir's claim that the Jews "invented and successfully promoted socialism, communism, human rights and democracy". That is where Mahathir doubtless got the idea in the first place. Not only Adolf Hitler, but the highest circles of the Catholic Church believed that communism was a Jewish plot, as a Swiss priest, Father Martin Rhonheimer, documents in the November 2003 issue of First Things.
Not since Hitler has the leader of an important country claimed that democracy itself was a Jewish invention, at least in the modern period. Let us however not engage in what Leo Strauss called "reductio ad Hitlerum," rejecting ideas merely because Hitler invented them, and take Mahathir's claim at face value.
The Jews did indeed invent democracy, in its modern form, although not quite in the way he imagines.
Modern (as opposed to ancient Greek or Roman) democracy stems from the Protestant motto "solo scriptorum", "only the Bible", by which every man must interpret scripture for himself. To begin with, Protestantism was unimaginable without Jewish theologians (who exposed the incompatibilities of free will and original sin), not to mention Jewish bible translators. In such a world, congregations must elect their church elders (Presbyterians) or even their pastors (Congregationalists), rather than accept church hierarchy. If democracy rules ecclesiastical affairs, why not then secular affairs as well?
Only Anglo-Saxon Protestantism had the opportunity to take on a political form, thanks in large part to the colonization of America. America's so-called revolution was in fact a second English civil war, in which the Whigs supported the American rebels against the Tory government. England's democratic impulse came from the extreme wing of its Protestants, from such sects as the Separatists who founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony, or the Quakers who founded Pennsylvania. Only on American soil did radical Protestantism flourish unimpeded by monarchy and established church.
America's founders set forth with messianic ambitions. They saw themselves as a new Israel setting out to found a new Jerusalem, as in John Winthrop's famous sermon "On Christian Charity". "We shall find that the God of Israel is among us, when 10 of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies, when He shall make us a praise and glory, that men shall say of succeeding plantations, the Lord make it like that of New England. For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us."
Jews played a small role in the creation of the American colonies, and a marginal role in the revolution, but American democracy stemmed from Jewish ideas. That is quite different from Mahathir's claim that Jews "invented" democracy. No conspiracy can invent democracy of the American kind. Massachusetts farmers formed a battle line against British regulars at Lexington and Concord in 1775 because self-governance was to them a matter of life and death. Such a sentiment is alien to Mahathir's world. His imagination does not encompass people like the radical Protestants of 18th century New England.
American democracy grew from a seed-crystal of representative institutions, beginning, as noted, with the election of church officials. Americans are used to governing their own affairs through a vast number of institutions at the capillary level of society. It astonished me to discover that the election of local school boards in American towns can excite more partisan passion than a presidential election. Unlike Europe, where education ministries dispense a centralized budget, American towns tax themselves for elementary and secondary education. Towns with better schools attract higher-income residents who can afford to pay for better education, in a virtuous cycle. Hospitals, public libraries and even the fire brigade draw on private resources and volunteer labor.
That brings us to the touchy matter of conspiracies. Mahathir's world is populated by conspiracies. They are as real and tangible to him as the chair on which he sits. In the rough-and-tumble of democratic governance, conspiracies help little, because all the important issues will come to light one way or another. What Bernard Lewis calls "consultative" governance in the Islamic world, however, only can exist through conspiracies.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at atimes.com ...
Jew hater.
This is why the Massachusetts Bay Colony (where Christmas was illegal) tolerated and even promoted the presence of Jews, who among other onerous duties, taught Hebrew at Harvard, which was a Congo seminary. OTOH, Quakers were whipped naked through the streets, Catholics were imprisoned and worse, and even Anglicans who were too "Roman" were in a world of hurt. Even fellow Congos who were a little adventurous got exiled to ghastly places: Roger Williams (not the piano player) and Anne Hutchison among others. Maine was the destination of Baptists and Unitarians.
As a certified Keeper Of Odd Knowledge, I am struggling as we speak, to (a) change trousers and (b) fit these facts into the conspiracy theory. I'll keep youse posted.
This idea interests me. If anyone has information on this, please et me know.
[This request should not be taken as an argument against the article.]
DG
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