The swing state of Michigan will be in play next year, and many analysts predict that the Muslim diaspora in that state could prove pivotal. But which major candidate can they vote for? Donald Trump wears his Islamophobia on his sleeve with his repeated calls to limit Muslims from traveling to the US, as well as his loudly-declared support for Israel. Joe Biden, however, looks even worse as he declares “I am a Zionist” even after Israel wantonly slaughtered tens of thousands of innocent people in Gaza while barely giving Hamas a scratch. Choose your poison!
Muslim Ban: Choose One
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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One of the key “arguments” the Bidenites present is that he’s “not Trump.”
Even when confronted with evidence about how the end result of Biden ends up being the same as with Trump (space prevents going into the length necessary to walk the reader through each of these), the Bidenites get almost hysterical in their fury.
Alison Bechdel had her character Mo Testa stunned by how the Republicans and democrats had become so similar that they were locked in a contest that came down to a handful of votes (and that was in 2000). This has been going on for a long time, and with how incumbents tend to win re-election, it’s really obvious when you look at just the non-incumbent elections that it’s six of one, half-dozen the other.
The 2000 election was decided by a couple hundred votes. 2008 was a unicorn (last black president), 2016 turned on about 30,000 votes. 2020 was decided by about 25,000 votes.
2024 will consist (probably) of two incumbents, cancelling out that effect. I suspect Trump will win the Electoral College while Joe Biden receives massive votes in the solid blue states (millions of votes that are meaningless; you can’t “double win” California). Biden’s backers will scream themselves hoarse about how he won, but, as Ted points out, it doesn’t really matter who wins. Not when these are our choices.
From the US Green Party Platform re Israel-Palestine (https://www.gp.org/israel_palestine)
Our Green values oblige us to support popular movements for peace and demilitarization in Israel-Palestine, especially those that reach across the lines of conflict to engage both Palestinians and Israelis of good will.
We support the implementation of boycott and divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era, which includes pressuring our government to impose embargoes and sanctions against Israel; and we support maintaining these nonviolent punitive measures until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law by
Ending its occupation and colonization of all Palestinian lands and dismantling the Wall in the West Bank
Recognizing the fundamental rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and
Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.
We support a U.S. foreign policy that promotes the creation of one secular, democratic state for Palestinians and Israelis on the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the River Jordan as the national home of both peoples, with Jerusalem as its capital.
I don’t think Likud will ever go for the one-state solution, because then they’d never win another election. The electorate would be roughly one third each of Palestinian, Labor, and Likud, and my money is on the proposition that every coalition will be of the first two.
Also, while I agree with improvements for the Palestinians, would it be so hard for the Green Party to also acknowledge that the Israeli people deserve better? People can argue until they are blue in the face as to which side is worse, who started it, etc. but, regardless, there should be near universal agreement that the people of both sides deserve better than they have been getting from the 75-year-plus status quo.
The Israeli people need to dump Likud like the American people need to dump the D/R Uni-party.
Indeed, many would argue that the Gazans should be dumping Hamas too. But it will be more likely to lead to lasting peace to involve Likud and Hamas diplomatically than to defeat them militarily.