Green Shoots of Hope For America

 It used to be Republicans and Democrats could be friends. My buddy Mike was a Conservative, and I was pretty Liberal, and we would discuss our differences politically and move on. I used to lose most debates since he was far better read than I, but I had the history of three generations of Democrats behind me, I wasn't rich, and didn't make enough money to care much about paying high taxes.

We would joke how stuff really got done in D.C., anyway. Reagan and O'Neil would meet over cocktails and work stuff out. I like to imagine their conversations: "Now Tip, allowing abortions all the way to the delivery room is just too much -- you know that!" "Ronnie -- you can't take away Welfare from the paralyzed single Moms, you know that!" Whatever the words, it seemed the country worked.

Well somehow matters went into the toilet. Republicans became MAGAs under Trump, descendants of the Tea Party. They lost all semblance to Conservatives -- insisting government control people on issues like abortion. And Democrats became Squad panderers -- more concerned about offending minorities than anything -- somehow believing it was ok to loot cities nationwide because some asshole cops choked a guy to death in the Midwest.

And as Jews, as Bret Stephens notes, we learned an awful lesson after the terrorist attacks by Hamas -- Israel's 9/11: we have far fewer friends than we thought. Jewish liberals who supported BLM finally understood that BLM advocated for the destruction of a Jewish state. And plenty of MAGA types shouted "Jews will NOT replace us." Oy --what a time.

But yesterday something very encouraging happened. Ohio voters decided a woman's right to choose should be a constitutionally protected right -- despite the MAGA SCOTUS's overturning Roe v. Wade. Assuming the smart Buckeye lawyers can get it right, the MAGA legislators will be bound by the direct voice of the people.

And on the very same day, the most racist, anti semitic creep in Congress, Rashida Tlaib, was censured -- one step below expulsion, for doubling down on the nicely rhyming "From the River to the Sea" crap -- which means Jews exterminated from Israel. She claims it's a really NICE saying -- contains the word "Free," but everyone knows "Deutschland Uber Alles" isn't a very nice chant for the Frankfort soccer team -- it implies genocide is just fine.

So today I'm hopeful. Maybe the US DOES have a way forward. According to the Stephens' essay, the CIA used to have a sign up that said "Every Day is 9/12", reminding the Agency that they can't allow another 9/11. And we need to live under "Every Day is 10/8" for likewise vigilance.

It'd be great if the MAGAS and the Squads would be marginalized by all of us mostly normal Americans.

Since I now have grandsons, and therefore a sacred stake in the future, I sure hope I'm right.