I was brought up to believe that this was a great country and that the prospects for success were essentially limitless. This belief is not a function of self-importance, but a reflection of American and world historical fact. For decades, the American military has helped defend and support freedom and liberty throughout the world and at home, and has also provided needed aid in humanitarian crises throughout the world. American innovation and inventions have improved the lives of millions, through medical advancements, scientific achievements and technological accomplishments. Immigrants still come to our shores in droves, seeking opportunity and freedom.
What is the reason for this exceptionalism? I believe that it is a combination of the principles defending individual freedoms that our Founding Fathers enumerated in the Constitution, the nature of our country as a ‘melting pot’ where immigrants contribute the best ideas and ethics from their home countries and geographical isolation from much of the world that shielded the United States from events in the “Old World.” Will this extraordinary nature of our populace come to an end during my lifetime? I fear that it might.
We now have a President who obviously does not believe that Americans are extraordinary. He has equated his purported belief in American exceptionalism with the idea that the leaders of other countries also consider their citizens exceptional. In other words, ‘we are all special in our own way.’ He has also clearly made it a goal to remake our society in the form of European countries where almost everything is a right, and citizens look to their government for many of their necessities. A nasty by-product of cradle to grave entitlements will be the failure of citizens to take responsibility for their lives.
Our President and the Democrats in Congress recently forced through massive ‘health insurance reform’ legislation despite substantial opposition. Although the goals of the legislation are admirable, the procedural aspects of the bill’s passage, as well as the methods for achieving these goals leave much to be desired. Legal actions challenging the constitutionality of the health insurance mandates have been filed, and may lead to the finding that these mandates are unconstitutional. Even if not, however, where will it end? Do we really want a nanny state where the government takes care of all of our needs and makes important decisions for us, or do we want our citizens to act and be treated as adults who nay actually have to deal with the ramifications of their decisions? I know what kind of state I want, and what kind of country I want my children to grow up in, and it is not a nanny state.
Increased governmental control of the medical field may stifle medical innovation. Realistically, one of the major motives for any kind of innovation is the profit that may eventually be made. When the potential for profit is removed from the equation, there is less incentive for research and the development of new, better medications, medical technologies and diagnostic and therapeutic modalities. People used to come to this country for the best medical care, when they could not receive comparable medical care at home. Now, where will they go? Where will we go?
During the past week, the President has proposed changes that would radically change the face of the space program. His proposals include abandonment of the Constellation program that was begun five years ago as the next step in space exploration after retirement of the space shuttles, as well as turning over much of the future of space exploration to private companies. The President has also established an excessively long time frame for achieving the next milestone in space exploration.
There are a myriad of problems with these proposals. The most obvious is that our astronauts and our space program would be at the mercy of the Russians, who would provide transportation to the international space station for a fee. Who would establish and enforce safety standards for privately developed vehicles, what would motivate private contractors to expend huge amounts of money both for infrastructure and new technologies when the potential profit realization is so far in the future? How will the country deal with the potential brain drain of our best and brightest scientists who may go elsewhere for research opportunities? The most critical concern is the impact that this change in direction may have on our national security. If the saying that: “He who controls space rules the world” is true, than are we willing to cede our status as a superpower to another country, such as China, that does not have our equitable moral foundation?
It appears that President Obama is willing to do this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo_rNtJ6yrc&feature=related His apparent lament that the United States remains the world’s lone superpower is worrisome. What does “whether we like it or not” mean? This is not a state that we have been forced into, but a stance that our leaders have desired and pursued, until now that is. It is critical for our national security and the security of our allies that we remain a superpower, so that we can continue to use our military might as a force for good in the world, not only in wartime but also after natural disasters. It is critical that the flame of American exceptionalism not be extinguished in the name of social justice.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
A Letter to President Obama
Mr. President,
It is with great concern that I write this letter to you today. I am trying to understand the logic behind your treatment of Israel; one of this country’s most steadfast and non-wavering allies. I am trying to understand how the President of this great country can treat, on more than one occasion, the elected leader of one of our strongest allies as if he were a family member of whom you are ashamed, while leaders of enemy nations are treated with deference. I am trying to understand how an ally that has compromised so much in the pursuit of peace and has received so little in return, can be pressured to compromise even more, by its’ supposed friend and ally. I am trying to understand how, as President of this great country for over 15 months, you STILL have not visited one of our most staunch allies, even as you have traveled to many other countries in the region and other parts of the world. I am trying to understand how you found time to travel to Israel during your campaign to court the Jewish vote, but, once elected, you have chosen only to chastise one of our country’s strongest allies, the country that is on the forefront of the war against radical Islam, the country that is surviving and flourishing in an unfriendly and dangerous neighborhood, against all odds.
Perhaps you do not fully understand the significance of the State of Israel in this world. Perhaps you need someone to explain the relevance and importance of this tiny country to the free world and to Jews all over the world. Perhaps you do not understand that the murder of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust would not have happened had there been a strong and independent Jewish state at the time that would not have hesitated to accept any and all Jews fleeing from the carnage of Nazi Germany. Perhaps you have not taken note of Israel’s significant and outstanding contributions to science, medicine, military engineering and many other areas, even as it struggles to survive in a treacherous region. Perhaps you have not noted the indisputable historical and religious ties that Jews have to the land of Israel. Perhaps you also have not noticed the freedom with which people of all religions can visit sites of religious significance to them; a situation that did not exist when these areas were under Arab control; a situation that does not exist in other countries that are under Arab and/or Muslim control. Perhaps you have not observed the number of Arab members of the Knesset, despite the fact that some of them consort openly with Israel’s enemies and speak traitorously against the state of Israel.
My father is a Holocaust survivor, and I am a first generation American who was taught from infancy about the greatness of this country and the freedoms and opportunities that it offered an immigrant who came here with nothing, not even any family members except for a cousin and some distant relatives who already lived here. He came with only the will to build a life for himself here and to live a life like others who had not experienced the horrors that he had. He had just turned 17 when he was liberated from Buchenwald and spent the following two years learning a trade and living in Europe, while waiting for his immigration paperwork to be completed.
Coincidentally, my 17 year old son is currently participating in the March of the Living; a program that gathers teenagers, adults and Holocaust survivors from all over the world to visit cities and towns that were previously major centers of Polish and European Jewry, and different concentration camps where millions of Jews and others were murdered in cold blood and with extreme premeditation. This program culminates in the actual March of the Living, where participants re-create a death march from Auschwitz to Birkenau, a forced march from where there was no return. My son visited Treblinka, where the inhabitants of my father’s hometown, including his parents and five younger siblings, were brought and killed. At Treblinka, my son read the names of his great grandparents, great aunts and great uncles that he would never know. My son is the first member of his family to step foot in Poland since my father left in 1945. He is participating in this program because there was NO Israel at that time to prevent the atrocities that occurred in Poland and in other parts of Europe. He is participating in this program because there was NO strong state of Israel to rescue Jews who were being persecuted, tortured and murdered. He is participating in this program because he realized that it is crucial to never forget the depths of evil that can exist when good people ignore the obvious signs of malevolence and when good people think that the appeasement of evil regimes is the only solution.
Since modern Israel was re-established in 1948, it has come to the rescue of persecuted people, Jews and non-Jews alike. The Israeli government mounted rescue operations when the lives of Ethiopian Jews were threatened, and similarly, opened its doors to Jews from the Soviet Union when they were finally permitted to emigrate from that country. Recently, Israel was one of the first countries to respond to the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti; establishing a working field hospital in record time, after its’ citizens traveled halfway around the world.
In short, the state of modern Israel, although far from perfect, has made scientific, humanitarian, medical and economic contributions that far exceed its’ small size. The world is truly a much better place because of the existence of this tiny country that has accomplished so much in the mere 62 years since it was re-established. Most importantly, however, it is an island of security for the Jews of the world, who finally have a country that will fight for them and stand up for them, no matter what. The destruction of Israel (as difficult as it is for me to even write these words) would be tragic for the world, but especially for Jews. Merely compelling Israel to put itself in a vulnerable position in an exceedingly unfriendly neighborhood or compelling it to compromise its’ security is hazardous for all people and countries that fight Islamic terrorism, for all people who wish to live in peace and freedom. Forcing Israel to be the “canary in the mine” will only foreshadow the tragedy that all in the West will face. I daresay, Mr. President, that the thought of Israel’s existence being threatened engenders the same feelings and fears in me that a repeal of the Civil Rights amendment would raise in you, with one major exception. The destruction of the State of Israel would once again be accompanied by the death of millions of Jews; my relatives and my people. Mr. President, it does not need to be like this.
Stand by Israel as you vowed you would in your presidential campaign. Do not allow your words or actions to endanger Israel’s existence or to further isolate Israel from the world community. Do not permit your words or actions to encourage the intransigence of the Palestinian and other Arab leadership. Continue the special relationship that Israel and the United States have had until now and do not permit any light to intrude between the interests of the United States and those of the State of Israel.
I thank you for your time.
Respectfully yours,
Betty F. Brutman
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3877181,00.html
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3877163,00.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGUxzISr9Us
It is with great concern that I write this letter to you today. I am trying to understand the logic behind your treatment of Israel; one of this country’s most steadfast and non-wavering allies. I am trying to understand how the President of this great country can treat, on more than one occasion, the elected leader of one of our strongest allies as if he were a family member of whom you are ashamed, while leaders of enemy nations are treated with deference. I am trying to understand how an ally that has compromised so much in the pursuit of peace and has received so little in return, can be pressured to compromise even more, by its’ supposed friend and ally. I am trying to understand how, as President of this great country for over 15 months, you STILL have not visited one of our most staunch allies, even as you have traveled to many other countries in the region and other parts of the world. I am trying to understand how you found time to travel to Israel during your campaign to court the Jewish vote, but, once elected, you have chosen only to chastise one of our country’s strongest allies, the country that is on the forefront of the war against radical Islam, the country that is surviving and flourishing in an unfriendly and dangerous neighborhood, against all odds.
Perhaps you do not fully understand the significance of the State of Israel in this world. Perhaps you need someone to explain the relevance and importance of this tiny country to the free world and to Jews all over the world. Perhaps you do not understand that the murder of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust would not have happened had there been a strong and independent Jewish state at the time that would not have hesitated to accept any and all Jews fleeing from the carnage of Nazi Germany. Perhaps you have not taken note of Israel’s significant and outstanding contributions to science, medicine, military engineering and many other areas, even as it struggles to survive in a treacherous region. Perhaps you have not noted the indisputable historical and religious ties that Jews have to the land of Israel. Perhaps you also have not noticed the freedom with which people of all religions can visit sites of religious significance to them; a situation that did not exist when these areas were under Arab control; a situation that does not exist in other countries that are under Arab and/or Muslim control. Perhaps you have not observed the number of Arab members of the Knesset, despite the fact that some of them consort openly with Israel’s enemies and speak traitorously against the state of Israel.
My father is a Holocaust survivor, and I am a first generation American who was taught from infancy about the greatness of this country and the freedoms and opportunities that it offered an immigrant who came here with nothing, not even any family members except for a cousin and some distant relatives who already lived here. He came with only the will to build a life for himself here and to live a life like others who had not experienced the horrors that he had. He had just turned 17 when he was liberated from Buchenwald and spent the following two years learning a trade and living in Europe, while waiting for his immigration paperwork to be completed.
Coincidentally, my 17 year old son is currently participating in the March of the Living; a program that gathers teenagers, adults and Holocaust survivors from all over the world to visit cities and towns that were previously major centers of Polish and European Jewry, and different concentration camps where millions of Jews and others were murdered in cold blood and with extreme premeditation. This program culminates in the actual March of the Living, where participants re-create a death march from Auschwitz to Birkenau, a forced march from where there was no return. My son visited Treblinka, where the inhabitants of my father’s hometown, including his parents and five younger siblings, were brought and killed. At Treblinka, my son read the names of his great grandparents, great aunts and great uncles that he would never know. My son is the first member of his family to step foot in Poland since my father left in 1945. He is participating in this program because there was NO Israel at that time to prevent the atrocities that occurred in Poland and in other parts of Europe. He is participating in this program because there was NO strong state of Israel to rescue Jews who were being persecuted, tortured and murdered. He is participating in this program because he realized that it is crucial to never forget the depths of evil that can exist when good people ignore the obvious signs of malevolence and when good people think that the appeasement of evil regimes is the only solution.
Since modern Israel was re-established in 1948, it has come to the rescue of persecuted people, Jews and non-Jews alike. The Israeli government mounted rescue operations when the lives of Ethiopian Jews were threatened, and similarly, opened its doors to Jews from the Soviet Union when they were finally permitted to emigrate from that country. Recently, Israel was one of the first countries to respond to the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti; establishing a working field hospital in record time, after its’ citizens traveled halfway around the world.
In short, the state of modern Israel, although far from perfect, has made scientific, humanitarian, medical and economic contributions that far exceed its’ small size. The world is truly a much better place because of the existence of this tiny country that has accomplished so much in the mere 62 years since it was re-established. Most importantly, however, it is an island of security for the Jews of the world, who finally have a country that will fight for them and stand up for them, no matter what. The destruction of Israel (as difficult as it is for me to even write these words) would be tragic for the world, but especially for Jews. Merely compelling Israel to put itself in a vulnerable position in an exceedingly unfriendly neighborhood or compelling it to compromise its’ security is hazardous for all people and countries that fight Islamic terrorism, for all people who wish to live in peace and freedom. Forcing Israel to be the “canary in the mine” will only foreshadow the tragedy that all in the West will face. I daresay, Mr. President, that the thought of Israel’s existence being threatened engenders the same feelings and fears in me that a repeal of the Civil Rights amendment would raise in you, with one major exception. The destruction of the State of Israel would once again be accompanied by the death of millions of Jews; my relatives and my people. Mr. President, it does not need to be like this.
Stand by Israel as you vowed you would in your presidential campaign. Do not allow your words or actions to endanger Israel’s existence or to further isolate Israel from the world community. Do not permit your words or actions to encourage the intransigence of the Palestinian and other Arab leadership. Continue the special relationship that Israel and the United States have had until now and do not permit any light to intrude between the interests of the United States and those of the State of Israel.
I thank you for your time.
Respectfully yours,
Betty F. Brutman
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3877181,00.html
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3877163,00.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGUxzISr9Us
Friday, April 16, 2010
My son has inspired me.
My son has inspired me.
My 17 year old son has inspired me to finally do something that I have been planning to do for some time. His decision to participate in the 2010 March of the Living has demonstrated to me that one person can make a difference in this complicated world, and that inaction is the path of the lazy.
For those who do not know what the March of the Living is; it is a yearly gathering of thousands of teenagers, adults and Holocaust survivors, mostly Jewish, from all over the world. The participants visit cities and towns in Poland that were centers of Polish and European Jewry before WWII, as well as Jewish ghettos and concentration camps. The highlight of the program in Poland is the actual ‘March of the Living’ during which participants, armed with Israeli flags of all sizes, recreate the death marches from Auschwitz to Birkenau from which very few victims of the Final Solution returned. The program then continues with a weeklong tour of Israel, the reestablished Jewish homeland. The March program clearly demonstrates that, although 90% of the Jews in Poland and two-thirds of the Jews in Europe perished during the Holocaust, the Jewish people are still here and flourishing in the State of Israel.
As part of his participation in the program, parents and spouses have also attended a number of meetings, both to inform us of the details of the program, as well as the emotional effects our loved ones may experience from the trip. We watched a video from a past March that demonstrated, as mere words could not, the emotional depths of the experience. Through my tears, I vowed to attend a future March and take definitive action now.
I have long complained about the path that this country is taking, both domestically and with regard to foreign relations, and have wasted numerous hours and a lot of psychic energy debating these issues on Facebook. But, no more. My son’s amazing and very adult decision has finally prompted me to “get off the couch” and do something definitive. If my words in this blog educate just one person, then I have made a difference in this world. If that person then pays it forward, the effects can be exponential.
Thank you, Corey.
My 17 year old son has inspired me to finally do something that I have been planning to do for some time. His decision to participate in the 2010 March of the Living has demonstrated to me that one person can make a difference in this complicated world, and that inaction is the path of the lazy.
For those who do not know what the March of the Living is; it is a yearly gathering of thousands of teenagers, adults and Holocaust survivors, mostly Jewish, from all over the world. The participants visit cities and towns in Poland that were centers of Polish and European Jewry before WWII, as well as Jewish ghettos and concentration camps. The highlight of the program in Poland is the actual ‘March of the Living’ during which participants, armed with Israeli flags of all sizes, recreate the death marches from Auschwitz to Birkenau from which very few victims of the Final Solution returned. The program then continues with a weeklong tour of Israel, the reestablished Jewish homeland. The March program clearly demonstrates that, although 90% of the Jews in Poland and two-thirds of the Jews in Europe perished during the Holocaust, the Jewish people are still here and flourishing in the State of Israel.
As part of his participation in the program, parents and spouses have also attended a number of meetings, both to inform us of the details of the program, as well as the emotional effects our loved ones may experience from the trip. We watched a video from a past March that demonstrated, as mere words could not, the emotional depths of the experience. Through my tears, I vowed to attend a future March and take definitive action now.
I have long complained about the path that this country is taking, both domestically and with regard to foreign relations, and have wasted numerous hours and a lot of psychic energy debating these issues on Facebook. But, no more. My son’s amazing and very adult decision has finally prompted me to “get off the couch” and do something definitive. If my words in this blog educate just one person, then I have made a difference in this world. If that person then pays it forward, the effects can be exponential.
Thank you, Corey.
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