New Haven Independent

Commentator Paul Begala on CNN said recently, referring to President George Bush:

“He’s a high-functioning moron and that’s what Congress treats him as — both parties.”

The other panelists did not show surprise or even bat an eye at that.

If you listen to the McCain campaign and the GOP-funded blogosphere, Senator Obama is a black radical with an Islamist upbringing in a fundamentalist madrasa, a Columbia- and Harvard-educated elitist out of touch with the people, an inexperienced community organizer married to a woman who hates America.

And if you listen to the Democratic bloggers, Senator McCain is an emotionally unstable, impulsive, math-challenged deseased geezer beholden to lobbyists who hopes that American men will vote for the ticket with the candidate they would most like to have sex with, who surrounds himself with corrupt and discredited advisors and who repeats lies even after being called on them.

The campaign is going negative — and you can decide for yourself who is responsible for that happening, and you can see for yourself where it is coming from. By the time we have elected our next president, a large proportion of the population is sure to have great disdain and grave doubts about his character, qualifications, intelligence, integrity, patriotism, and motivation. The dynamic of the process insure that much of the public will intensely dislike the next president.

And an administration that comes to power through fearmongering, deceipt, hatred and the exploitation of ignorance, will inevitably need those same tools to rule.

One of the vice-presidential candidates said during the debate — I don’t want to say which one, because I don’t want to be partisan, Godforbid — he said:

“Mike Mansfield, a former leader of the Senate, said to me one day … I made a criticism of Jesse Helms. He said, ‘What would you do if I told you Jesse Helms and Dot Helms had adopted a child who had braces and was in real need?’ I said, ‘I’d feel like a jerk.’

He said, ‘Joe, understand one thing. Everyone’s sent here for a reason, because there’s something in them that their folks like. Don’t question their motive.’”

Ben Azzai taught:

“Do not disdain any person;
“Do not underrate the importance of anything —
“For there is no person who does not have his hour
“And there is no thing without its place in the sun.” (Avot 4:3)

… I must confess I struggle with that. How can I not question people’s motives when they subvert the conventions of commerce or circumvent the constitution, blatantly and crassly, for their own financial and political gain? How can I not question the motives of public officials who go straight to high-paying industry jobs after voting billions in pork or boondoggle to those very same industries?

“Is it just coincidence that the oil industry has reaped phenomenal profits during a period in which oilmen are in the Oval Office, or that military contractors are walking away with billions, unaccounted for, while their former executives are in the White House? I don’t mean to ridicule our public officials at this point — there is no use beating a dead horse, much less a lame duck. But I can’t keep from wondering. It is just hard sometimes to see people running for office or holding office who pale in comparison to their worthy alternatives.

Ben Azzai taught: Do not disdain any person.

No, I must not disdain public officials, no matter how fast the revolving door swings, no matter how much pork is distributed. I should accept the dictum of Ben Azzai. Am I a fool for expecting people to behave otherwise? And yet, I know that there are many good people, honest, self-sacrificing people, in public service, even in Washington, and certainly in local governments. There are even honest people working in banking and finance …

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Meanwhile, click on the play arrow to watch a previous Independent video Tilsen made from the synagogue roof, on the subject of solar power.