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OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 5/22/19

Senator Schumer's Divine Mission

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If the U.S. found its "moral voice" and did the right thing, one result is surely predictable. Taking this higher, ethical road would trigger into action Senator Charles "Chuck" Schumer, "shomer Yisrael," and his mission from God to protect sectarian Israel.

I will leave it to the reader to decide which road, that is, which approach to national interests, is preferable for United States and indeed the world. By extension, those readers with religious convictions might ask which approach to national interests best reflects the character of the deity they believe in.

Part III -- The Last Refuge of a Scoundrel

It was 244 years ago that Samuel Johnson, the English lexicographer, editor and moralist, told his friend and biographer James Boswell that "patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." Many a racist and many a xenophobe will tell you that their bigoted beliefs are rooted in patriotism. And, since both American and Israeli leaders seek to meld nationalist passions with religion, we must recognize that religion too can be a refuge for scoundrels. Of course, that does not mean that all religious folks are such. Rather, it means that scoundrels can find it quite useful to use religion, just like patriotism, as a cover for immoral and criminal behavior. Unfortunately, this does not preclude the possibility that the scoundrels might truly believe in their "divine mission," even if it libels a God that others wish to see as morally upright and good.

Whether one believes in missions from God or not, it is objectively the case that America's experience has proven racism to be morally wrong and socially destructive -- it is the equivalent of a social cancer. This is the case for more than just the United States. Racism's pernicious nature constitutes a universal reality -- as poisonous in Jerusalem as it is in Birmingham.

Because Senator Schumer has erroneously decided that the U.S. and Israel are so connected that their interests are identical, he has painted himself into a nasty corner. He has tied himself, ostensively by divine command, to a society of increasing apartheid nature which, he suggests, all "patriotic" Americans must support and defend. This leads us to ask what sort of society does Senator Schumer, "shomer Yisrael," really advocate for his constituents in New York, and indeed, for the United States as a whole? Does he want it to be the same as the racist Israeli society he defends "with every bone in his body"? You see, you can't have it both ways -- you can't really be a racist when it comes to Israel but not a racist in the United States. Regardless of who gave him his name, Senator Schumer is either a hypocrite or an advocate of apartheid. Either way, he is a scoundrel.

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Lawrence Davidson is a history professor at West Chester University in Pennsylvania. He is the author of Foreign
Policy Inc.: Privatizing America's National Interest
; America's
Palestine: Popular and Offical Perceptions from Balfour to Israeli
Statehood
; and Islamic Fundamentalism. His academic work is focused on the history of American foreign relations with the Middle East. He also teaches courses in the history of science and modern European intellectual history.

His blog To The Point Analyses now has its own Facebook page. Along with the analyses, the Facebook page will also have reviews, pictures, and other analogous material.

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