Recently, a NY Times podcast suggested that combating antisemitism is merely a pretext the right uses to go after liberals and progressives, but this is obviously bogus.
Simply put, the scourge of antisemitism in our education system and elsewhere is a scourge impacting all Americans.
This issue brings to mind the words of one of my political heroes, Abraham Lincoln. As he put it:
This is a world of compensation; and he who would be no slave must consent to have no slave. Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, and, under a just God, cannot long retain it.
He is not only talking about the golden rule here. Lincoln also recognized that a government that permitted the enslavement of one class of people could permit any other class to be enslaved. Whatever favored class had the majority could subjugate the minority.
The same reasoning applies to combating antisemitism. If we would ourselves reject being vilified and discriminated against, we cannot permit this to happen to anyone else.
Fighting discrimination of any kind is a core American value going back to our founding. In the words of George Washington:
All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.
Share this post