“They encircle me with words of hate.”
Israel lives the lament of the psalmist, 8 million people surrounded by enemies.
Across the northwest border, the rockets of Hezbollah face Jerusalem. In the northeast, al-Qaida clings to its piece of shattered Syria. Jordan, sometime friend but former enemy, weak to external pressure, lies in the east. Between the river and a green line, in the West Bank, imams preach hate and leaders without popular mandate pander to their congregations. In Gaza, Hamas trades its people for rockets and international attention. ISIS and others share the wastes of the Sinai in the south. Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, repeats his vow for Israel’s destruction in sermons and on Twitter.
Israel experiences real existential danger every day. Israelis live perpetually under the threat of terrorism, invasion, and internal unrest.
Meanwhile, America’s neighbors are Canadians, oceans, and Mexico.
Yet every four years, in speeches, TV spots, and editorials, America teeters on the verge of collapse. Our aspiring leaders tell us all the ways we could die as they woo us.
In every election, a crisis atmosphere must be established, created by and for the politician. Thus, despite the United States’ $63.5 trillion of private wealth and a military budget last year of $601 billion — more dollars than the next seven largest national military budgets combined — Americans are told the country strains at a breaking point, that not only should they be angry at politicians who have failed to keep promises, but also that they should be scared of threats on all sides.
We are not allowed to worry about the problems of everyday life, to concern ourselves with paying rent and marrying, with being a parent and giving in marriage. The Cold War may be over, but candidates tell us our crises worsen and only electing them will save us.
Listen to us, the candidates say. This is a crisis. This is the exception to the rules. America is not that great, but now it is going to be great again if you let us make up what that means as we go along. Let us make this century newer, red-er, white-er, and blue-er.
Vote Trump, and we can build the wall that will keep out all the rapists. Never mind that 82 percent of victims of sexual assault know their attacker.
Ban Muslims from entering the country so no one gets shot. No need to worry about the more than 13,000 gun deaths not connected to terrorism, or to worry too much about non-Islamic acts of terror like the Charleston Emmanuel AME Church shooting.
Vote for Rubio because he understands that fighting terrorist organizations is a “clash of civilizations.” What a good reminder that ISIS, al-Qaida, and the rest resemble our 321 million person country spanning a continent, or that their interpretation of Sunni Islam bears comparison to the western tradition we claim.
Vote Cruz, and we can finally establish whether “sand can glow in the dark” after incessant carpet-bombing. Yes, that would be a war crime.
The German political philosopher — and Nazi — Carl Schmitt wrote, “Sovereign is he who decides on the exception.” Contemporary politics has declined to offer a real alternative definition of sovereignty and American political rhetoric has played right along. Politicians present crises as the exception that only they can decide on. Government grows and the executive expands the scope of its powers.
But there is no such exception, not now.
The mere fact of an election, of a working constitutional system, demonstrates this. All this shouting and pointing to this and that specter is a distraction from the incredible fact that the country is preparing to peacefully transition power from one executive to another, one elected by the people.
Israel, encircled with enemies, participates in this little miracle too. Despite real threats, real crises on each horizon, Israelis live a life we would recognize as mostly normal. While they have a parliamentary system, they vote like we do. And though there was another fatal stabbing attack Monday, and though rockets still rain from Gaza, they continue.
No leader can protect us from everything. America was founded on principles that acknowledge and transcend the brokenness of humanity. When we are angry, when we are scared, when politicians scream crisis, is no time to throw those away for false security. Instead, live the life this country’s blessings allow.