It's Official!!

Extra! Extra!

There is a G-d!

I know because the Democrats said so yesterday. And they decided by democratic vote.  And, of course, no politician would lie to us or say something he didn't truly believe.

Well. I'm not really sure of the last few points. There was a voice vote on the subject and there are many who think that the motion to put that revelation in the platform was defeated, but those who favored it were in charge, and they declared that the motion had passed. Anyway, the President wanted it. There was a loud outcry from the Republicans and from voters when the party's platform, which presumably he had dictated and which had been accepted, was seen to have failed to affirm it. Rather than risk the negative reaction of voters offended by the omission, a vote was held to add the declaration to the platform. There apparently was fear that the Republicans would get the G-d vote, which was fine with many Democrats, but that was unacceptable to party leaders. As hard as it is to admit, belief was irrelevant – it was purely a matter of politics.

Oh. And Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.

Although this fact (just ask the Israeli government) has been previously acknowledged in the party's platforms (though never acted upon) it was left out this year, until the reaction to its omission (and the need for funds and votes) became apparent to the President. In line with that political reality, the party quickly and “democratically” corrected that oversight. Of course Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. We knew that.  Of course some negotiations are necessary, but they're for another time.

Will this statement change policy? Of course not. A platform is a political document and in no way an indicator of future policies but, rather, past performance is the most reliable basis for any conclusion about likely actions in the future. Not the platform declarations – even if they had been reached democratically. In this instance what comes to mind is the hostility the President and his staff have shown to Israel as they talk interminably with Iran about our misgivings regarding the nuclear bomb it is building. While they take no real action in relation to the latter, they give loud and public warnings to the former, and put great pressure on Israel, whose existence, unlike our own, is threatened by the bomb that the United States, by its inaction, will permit to be built despite contrary protestations. It's hard to believe that there will be any real change in these views or actions whatever the platform says.

So if the President is reelected we can anticipate that Iran will build its bombs and bury them deep underground, and that it will force a democratic Israel to take actions that it would prefer not to take. And Iran will take control of the entire non-democratic Arab world, including countries that we view (with our usual unwarranted optimism) as allies.

But, as the Democrats have now told us, “G-d's in His Heaven and all's right with the world.”