What's Israel Got to Do With It?

Townhall.com ^ | September 3, 2009 | Cliff May

[Kaslin]

Bill Gates famously called George Gilder "very stimulating even when I disagree with him, and most of the time I agree with him." The issues on which Gilder has staked out stimulating positions over more than 30 years as a writer and public intellectual are wide-ranging. They include the causes of poverty and the creators of wealth; the consequences of modern feminism; and the possibilities opened by the high-tech revolution. His arguments are often surprising, always provocative and generally controversial. His latest book is titled "The Israel Test." Much of what he says is dramatically different from what just about anyone else is saying. In particular: "Either the world, principally the United States, supports Israel, or Israel, one way or another, will be destroyed. There are no other realistic choices. And if Israel is destroyed, capitalist Europe will likely die as well, and America, as the epitome of productive and creative capitalism spurred by Jews, will be in jeopardy."

At this juncture, it is probably not just useful but necessary to note that George Gilder is not Jewish. In other words, the case he makes for Israel has no basis in religious or ethnic affiliation. At the same time, not being tethered to Israel or to Jews allows him to be blunt in a way few of Israel's Jewish defenders dare.

For example, he says that people "who obsessively denounce Jews have a name; they are Nazis." He does not hesitate to apply the term to Arab and Iranian leaders who exhibit such behavior. He contends, as well, that the "most dangerous form of Holocaust denial is not rejection of the voluminous evidence of long-ago Nazi crimes but incredulity toward the voluminous evidence of the new Holocaust being planned by Israel's current enemies. Two Iranian presidents have resolved to acquire nuclear weapons for the specific purpose of ‘wiping Israel off the map.' "

What can be done to prevent a second Holocaust and to beat back the jihadis at America's gates? Gilder believes, first, we need to recognize the nature and gravity of the threat; second, we need more resolve; and third we need more technology of the sort America and Israel have been most adept at producing.

It will require comprehensive missile defense and other high-tech means to prevent our sworn enemies from "infiltrating nuclear weapons into American cities, exploding them offshore near American ports, or detonating bombs above America's critical electronic infrastructure" - destroying that infrastructure with an EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse) attack, an offensive capability that Iran, for one, is known to be developing.

"No nation in history has succeeded in preserving its integrity and sovereignty without meeting the challenge of ever-advancing armaments," Gilder points out. "But many American intellectuals still imagine that the United States is different, that it is possible or desirable for us to negotiate an ‘end to the arms race.' Our enemies will always want to end the arms race because they know only free nations can win it. ... An end to the arms race would deprive the capitalist countries of their greatest asset in combating barbarism."

Gilder is convinced that the forces targeting Israel and America also are "targeting capitalism and freedom everywhere." Capitalism, he says, requires freedom - for entrepreneurs, workers and consumers alike. All benefit, because, "under capitalism the achievements of one group provide markets and opportunities for others."

He goes on to make this unfashionable observation: Any democracy not resting on a solid capitalist foundation is doomed. "Without an expanding capitalist economy," he writes, "democracy becomes dominated by its zero-sum elements - by mobs and demagogues."

Over the centuries, such mobs and demagogues have, many times, turned against Jews. Today, Gilder adds, "they have turned against Israel." Sometimes, the root cause is simply greed and envy. But often it is the belief that "social justice" necessitates the dispossession of the "haves" and redistribution to the "have-nots" in the interest of "equality of outcome."

Over time, this can only lead to expanding poverty because it is based on a misunderstanding of what wealth is. Fundamentally, wealth inheres not in material resources but in "human minds and creations that thrive only in peace and freedom. In particular, the immiseration of the Middle East stems chiefly from the covetous and crippling idea among Arabs that Israel's wealth is not only the source of their humiliation but also the cause of their poverty."

Gilder has much more to say - more challenging arguments and perplexing questions than I can summarize in a brief column. But his underlying thesis is straightforward: The future of freedom, democracy, capitalism, America, the West and the tiny state of Israel are all tied together in a single knot. Israel is "not only a major source of Western technological supremacy and economic leadership - it is also the most vulnerable source of Western power and intelligence."

Israel is, Gilder contends, "not only the canary in the coal mine - it is also a crucial part of the mine." If Americans will not defend Israel, they will "prove unable to defend anything else. The Israel test is finally our own test of survival as a free nation."

[Quix]

EVEN NON JEWISH SECULARISTS

GET IT.

There’s Absolutely NO EXCUSE

for CHRISTIAN CONSERVATIVE FREEPERS

NOT getting it.

Thankfully, he’s wrong about Israel being destroyed.

GOD ALMIGHTY IS FAR FROM SLACK CONCERNING HIS PROMISES.

[fishtank]

Get ready to hear that RCC tradition or Genevan-Westminsterian tradition trumps Romans 9-10-and-11.

/sigh

[Quix]

PLEASE
PRAY FOR ISRAEL
AND FOR THE USA
OVER THE NEXT 20 DAYS
ANY EXTRA YOU CAN MANAGE.
EVIDENTLY
BIBI NETANYAHU
WILL BE DECIDING
WITHIN 2 WEEKS
WHETHER OR NOT
TO ATTACK IRAN.
I don't see how he
can avoid doing it.
IF he does it,
It will set off WWIII
escalatingly afterwards.
BLESSED BE
THE NAME OF THE LORD.
BLESSED BE
THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM.
GOD HAVE MERCY ON ALL
LOVE HIM.

[Captain Kirk]

If he wants to attack leave us out of it. It is time to take both Israel and Arab countries off U.S. taxpayer welfare.

[DollyCali]

prayers for guidance & wisdom for those who decide... strength from God to do the right thing. Many of us see the age closing, not to be melodramatic, but things are so ripe for events to take place

[Quix]

. . . I see it more as . . .

certain . . . vacuous orbs on short stalks on robotized frames . . .

are ensconsed within OThuga et al’s oligarchic dark places.

Having been deprived of the light of day for sooooo long . . .

all their mouths and fingers can mutter is . . .

we see nothing.
we know nothing.
we do nothing but murmmer and mutter irrationally and incoherently.
we think nothing.
we are suicidally ignorant.

[Quix]

Biblical ignorance is suicidal.

[Quix]

INDEED.

Overripe, even.

[Captain Kirk]

Where is the United States and its obligation to provide tax support for Israel mentioned in the Bible? Hey....if you want to DONATE your paycheck to Israel, that's your right. Just keep your cotton pickin' hands out of my pocket!!

If folks who write about this topic here devoted even 1 percent of their energy to publizing the plight of Iraqi Christians who have been disappearing since 2003, they would strike a great blow for justice.

[Sender]

I would agree with this author on almost every point except one; that if Israel does not have America's help, it will ultimately be destroyed.

Certainly the loss of America's help would bring untold troubles and aggression toward Israel. However, if one has faith and believes in the covenant with Israel, it is not America who will ultimately prevent the destruction of Israel. I would be more worried about the fate of America if she deserts Israel.

Forces are arrayed across the globe who want to invade and occupy Israel and the oil-rich states. They have tried several times, with Soviet backing, and yet failed. Each time, David slays Goliath. Is this due to divine intervention, American aid, inferior Arab forces or what? I tend to think it is due to the superior Israeli forces who are fighting for their very survival. They have no other option but to win every time.

If America deserts Israel and the big war comes, I believe there will be some form of divine intervention. Israel may be invaded and ravaged, but will not be destroyed. Something Big will happen. Faith is the evidence of things unseen.

[Quix]

Iraqi Christians and their plight are horrific and the USA is complicit in their troubles.

That said . . . how we treat Israel is crucial . . .

when we finally force Israel to divide Jerusalem one more time . . .

you can expect the USA to be divided dramatically and wholesale.

The Great Lake above Chicago will empty into the new Gulf of Mexico extension all the way up the Mississippi valley.

That’s just for starters.

Life in the USA will never be the same. The USA will be disciplined with in a hair’s breadth of being obliterated.

[Quix]

GOD ALMIGHTY
SAID
THOSE WHO BLESS ISRAEL
WILL BE BLESSED.
THOSE WHO CURSE ISRAEL
WILL BE CURSED.
I've NEVER found it
WISE
to argue or disagree
with
ALMIGHTY GOD.

[fishtank]

Are you sure that you aren't Jean-Luc Picard, instead?

[Joya]

See “The Vision: The Trigger” dated Aug. 25

http://www.prayersforthepeople.com/

[Captain Kirk]

Thank you for agreeing about the plight of Iraqi Christians. Of course, the U.S. continues to be complicit because it is protecting the Shi'ite government in Iraq which was responsible for cleansing many of these Christians. Please note that Israel is ALSO complicit because it ALSO supports this govenrment.

I note that you did not quote a Bible verse describing any of these things that will happen to the U.S. if stops forking over tax money to a government dominated by agnostics and atheists. Besides, Israel is perfectly free to do whatever wants on ITS OWN DIME.

[Captain Kirk]

LOL....and your point is....what?

[Quix]

THANKS.

[Quix]

A Bible verse was down thread shortly.

There’s another verse where God notes that He’d trade all Creation for the children of Jacob.

Yes, Israel is apostate secular rebellious and Godless.

God notes all that and declares HE WILL CLEAN THEM UP; MAKE HIMSELF REAL TO THEM.

FOR HIS GLORY.

IT’S HIS GIG.

Folks need to be very cautious about dinking around with

GOD’S GIG.

God will reward all the Iraqi Christians more than abundantly for all their suffering as well as be with them in the midst of it . . .

as He will all the USA Christians in the midst of looming suffering coming down the Pike to neighborhoods near . . . everyone???

[Tolik]

Cliff May reviews George Gilder's book "The Israel Test."

... Gilder is convinced that the forces targeting Israel and America also are "targeting capitalism and freedom everywhere." Capitalism, he says, requires freedom - for entrepreneurs, workers and consumers alike. All benefit, because, "under capitalism the achievements of one group provide markets and opportunities for others."

He goes on to make this unfashionable observation: Any democracy not resting on a solid capitalist foundation is doomed. "Without an expanding capitalist economy," he writes, "democracy becomes dominated by its zero-sum elements - by mobs and demagogues."

Over the centuries, such mobs and demagogues have, many times, turned against Jews. Today, Gilder adds, "they have turned against Israel." Sometimes, the root cause is simply greed and envy. But often it is the belief that "social justice" necessitates the dispossession of the "haves" and redistribution to the "have-nots" in the interest of "equality of outcome."

Over time, this can only lead to expanding poverty because it is based on a misunderstanding of what wealth is. Fundamentally, wealth inheres not in material resources but in "human minds and creations that thrive only in peace and freedom. In particular, the immiseration of the Middle East stems chiefly from the covetous and crippling idea among Arabs that Israel's wealth is not only the source of their humiliation but also the cause of their poverty."

Gilder has much more to say - more challenging arguments and perplexing questions than I can summarize in a brief column. But his underlying thesis is straightforward: The future of freedom, democracy, capitalism, America, the West and the tiny state of Israel are all tied together in a single knot. Israel is "not only a major source of Western technological supremacy and economic leadership - it is also the most vulnerable source of Western power and intelligence."

Israel is, Gilder contends, "not only the canary in the coal mine - it is also a crucial part of the mine." If Americans will not defend Israel, they will "prove unable to defend anything else. The Israel test is finally our own test of survival as a free nation."

Nailed It!
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