Will U.S. Jews Stand With Israel - Or Obama?
Maybe they could stand with the US.
Why should they stand with a country founded by heretical puritanical freemasons?
Shame on you, Romulus. I would have never taken you for an Americanist.
Not in a categorical sense -- you are absolutely right. But I do believe that citizenship and loyalties are closely linked. There is a question of community, ZC: to which community do you or I or others belong? Once we have decided, integrity requires us to live out that reality in concrete ways. General Lee for example, having decided that he was primarily a Virginian, joined himself to a cause he considered hopeless -- out of integrity with his self-understanding.
Why should they stand with a country founded by heretical puritanical freemasons?
It's an excellent question. Here's another: why should they stand with a country founded by ethnic-cleansing terrorists (oh, wait -- that includes America too)?
I am not trying to bait you, ZC; indeed, even though we frequently disagree, I have a lot of respect for you. It's because of this respect that I toss out serious, principled questions:
1. Does USA=Obama, as the thread title all but insists? Are we conceding the notion that the American polity is now personal, invested in the Leader, whoever he may be? Are we now officially a country of men and not of laws?
2. Should ethnicity trump other aspects of community? If we're to say yes, can non-Jewish Americans regard their Jewish neighbors as equally committed to the communities of which they're nominally citizens? Is this good for the community at large? Is this good for Jews? What does citizenship mean to Jews?
The ugly subtext to the title of this thread is that Jews belong no place but their own country and elsewhere are not to be viewed as loyal. Do we really want to go there?