The Two-Party Bind Winding Around Israel

Yet we still have our voice...and our faith that things will be okay.

The older I get, the more I really do try to detach from what happens in D.C. I still care, but I think the longer one lives, the more he/she has seen, the less threatened & bent out of shape one becomes when things don’t go the way he/she prefers.

It’s like the Boomers with whom I spoke to throughout the protests and riots in Minnesota six years back—and who I considered shockingly mellow. More than one of them told me, “Yeah, we saw this sort of thing in the 60s.”

I had no such direct experience to refer to.

But I do have my own ever-growing experience archive, evermore strengthening the validity of the adage that, “Everything’s going to be alright.”

That said…

There’s also a growing counteracting factor.

Time may strengthen my resolve in staying calm, but time also raises the bar of crazy—sometimes troubling—things happening in our country.

The rising crazy recently outstretched my growing experiential calm, erupting and moving me to take action in a way I can’t recall ever doing: I called my two U.S. Senators. There have been many bills I haven’t liked over the years, but July 14th’s procedural vote to advance legislation furthering the integration of parts of our military with Israel’s finally got me to pick up the phone.

It’s not about siding with the Palestinians or any anti-Jewish sentiment. I was just stunned that a proposal to decay something as vitally important as national sovereignty would be presented at the level of the military, that it would be proposed with a country visibly committing military atrocities, and that it would be supported by the side of the aisle known for championing this country’s independence. It’s like all the concerns Republicans have about being beholden to the U.N or other international body were balanced by this manifestation of the deterioration of our autonomy—which the Democrats were overwhelmingly against.

The Senate Republicans did vote overwhelmingly in support of this procedural vote and did so as well in the House, which just four days ago passed its full national Defense spending bill, including this now-notorious U.S.-Israel military integration policy.

U.S. House vote on July 22; it passed by a slim margin.

This whole Israel matter feels like the straw breaking the camel’s back of our vulnerable, two-party government.

Focusing on this cause across the ocean, one side, the conservatives, stands with those committing military crimes by way of our funding and technologies. Meanwhile, the liberals’ representatives willing to speak out against this activity (indeed, are being elected for this reason) also happen to be the most radical in that political direction. Thus, there seems diminishing representation for the vast majority of Americans in the middle. With the attention on this proxy battle far away from the issues in our country, the U.S. is either being led by politicians arguing for more involvement with this Middle East conflict while overlooking their constituents or being led by politicians elected to pull out of this conflict while enacting harmful policy upon their constituents.

With evermore then to point fingers at in either direction, that’s continually what either side does.

NYC Mayor Mamdani publicly called for the Israeli Prime Minister’s arrest, July 22.

With these rising voices against this military merging now coming from those with far left ideals—continuing to add dysfunctional layers to the situation—I don’t know how this bind gets resolved, how America disentangles from this ball of yarn.

Regardless of all that, though, we still have our voices.

If fellow Minnesotans are interested in sharing your thoughts with our Senators, their numbers are here and here. When I called, Klobuchar’s line only allowed me to leave a message. But someone from Smith’s office did pick right up and was courteous.

Also, that Senate procedural vote mentioned above actually did not pass, as it required 60 of the 100 Senators to approve it. So right now the ball in back in their court, to hash out a compromise and propose a bill for full defense department funding starting in 2027.

Finally, regardless of all of this, I still have my faith.

We got through the 60s, right Boomers?

We in the Twin Cities got through the riots of 2020.

In some way, shape, or form, we’ll get through anything happening in the present day as well.

hope you get through this week wonderfully,

-Brandon