Stand with Israel

Perhaps the greatest foreign policy issue of our day is the on-going, generational conflagration between the nation of Israel and her adversaries around the world. Of course the topic is replete with nuance and no one side is without fault; however, it is clear to me who the United States

must stand with in this conflict.

Since President Truman’s decision to recognize the State of Israel on the same day—May 14, 1948—that the Provisional Government of Israel declared there to be a Jewish state, Israel has stood with the United States. As the Islamic nations of the world, backed by the Soviet Union, made unprovoked war on the people of Israel, America stood by Israel and Israel stood by America in its political battle with the USSR. Even today Israel’s enemies—Hamas, Iran, and much of the Islamic world—back terrorist groups and ally themselves with other despotic nations and enemies of the United States, such as Russia, China, Cuba and Venezuela.

Some erroneously believe that Israel is to blame for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, that if Israel just gave up its land and was more generous in its negotiations with Hamas—a recognized terrorist organization—Hamas would benignly agree to live in peace and harmony with its neighbor; however, one need not look any further than Hamas’ own charter that calls for the “obliteration” of Israel in order to dismiss as naïve such a belief system. Hamas will not recognize Israel’s right to exist no matter what Israel agrees to (other than its own suicide).

Some erroneously believe that Jews are the cause of Middle East strife, that if the Jewish people simply ceased to exist then all would be right in the Middle East. But a little geopolitical knowledge dashes this anti-Semitic lie. The truth is clear—Islam is at war with its neighbors all

over the world. Islam is at war with the secularists in the West, with the authoritarians in Russia, with the communists in China, with the Christians in Africa, with civilization in Turkey, with India in Kashmir, with the Jews in Israel and even with each other all over the world. The truth? The Middle East conflict is merely a symptom of the cancer that is radical Islam.

Some erroneously believe that Iran should be left to its own devices, that Iran has as much right to a nuclear weapon as the United States or Russia has. They subscribe to the Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) theory that a rational nation will not commit certain suicide by engaging in nuclear warfare with an equal opponent. With regard to Iran MAD is an insufficient theory. Iran and its Ayatollahs, who deny the Holocaust, are attempting to follow in the steps of their ideological cousins, the Nazis. Iran denies the Holocaust and has sworn itself to the destruction of Israel. Iran follows Shi’a Islam, a strain of Islam followed by approximately 10% of Muslims. Shi’a Islam is more akin to a death cult than to a religion as it believes in the return of the 12th Imam who will murder the Jews and bring the world under the boot of a global Islamic caliphate. Iran’s leaders believe they can haste the return of the Mahdi by starting a global war. Iran is not a rational actor—Iran is a virulent anti-Semitic state that envisions the murder of the Jewish people. Iran must not be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons—no matter what!

Some erroneously believe that the Palestinians (or, more largely, Muslims) have a right to the Israeli territories, but simple history belies this notion. The Land of Israel is the birthplace of the Jewish people 1,800 years before the birth of Christ and 24 centuries before the founding of Islam. Simply put, it’s awful history to say anyone else has a claim to the Land of Israel other than the Jewish people.

Finally, Israel is the Middle East’s only true democracy. Israel has open and free elections, women’s suffrage, religious liberty, and is capitalist through and through. There are few nations that are more like the United States in their very identity. There are few other nations that have

stood by the United States through thick and thin. Israel is our friend today, tomorrow, and forever. America should stand with Israel. And as your Missouri Congressman I pledge that I will stand with Israel.

Kansas City United

     It’s been troubling me for a while now to see the way the Kansas and Missouri sides of Kansas City do battle with each other over jobs for no real tangible benefit to area workers. Job poaching is a scourge on Kansas City and adds little marginal benefit to residents of the Greater Kansas City area. Michael T. White of the UMKC School of Law brought to light a perfect example of the frivolity of job poaching. J.P. Morgan and its 800 jobs at its Retirement Plan Services offices moved four miles from 95th and Ward Parkway to Overland Park’s Sprint Campus. This inorganic economic growth is nice for incumbent politicians in campaign mode but it is of little material benefit to Kansas City residents.

     With Texas leading the charge in job poaching from other states, including Kansas and Missouri, and with Washington, D.C. centralizing the nation’s wealth in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area, all people and governments of Kansas City should be uniting to fight for our mutual benefit. 

     According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Kansas City metropolitan area had an 8.7% unemployment rate in August 2011 (its most recent numbers), which is unacceptably high. In comparison, the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area enjoyed a 6.1% unemployment rate as our area congressmen, specifically Missouri’s Emanuel Cleaver and his “progressive caucus,” have neglected their people’s interests for the benefit of the parasite class of Washington, D.C. As Washington, D.C. surpasses San Jose for the nation’s wealthiest area, Emanuel Cleaver’s constituents are barely treading water, wondering when their representatives will stop twiddling their thumbs as Rome burns.

     While I understand that an individual federally elected congressman has little direct impact on a local economy outside of questionably moral pork barrel (“ear mark”) spending, I declare earnestly that if I’m sent to Congress by my neighbors I will use my position of influence to bring the state and municipal governments of Missouri, Kansas and Kansas City together for an economic summit that will focus on calling a truce and working out plans for how we can do battle with Texas and Washington, D.C. for the betterment of our homes.

     I say it’s high time that we see a united Kansas City. The Civil War is long over, folks—we have an old but updated enemy. The enemy’s name is division and its bedfellow is neglect.