Dry Bones
Rom
THERE ARE
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TWO KINDS
OF "TARGETED
KILLINGS"
Kerry For President
Last in a series on the Nov. 2 presidential election. Earlier
editorials may be found at wvvw.detroitjewisimews.com
rom his bravery in Vietnam, through his serv-
ice in the U.S. Senate and by his performance
in more than a year of campaigning, John E
Kerry has demonstrated that he would be a fine presi-
dent of the United States. And with one exception,
George W. Bush's stunning and stubborn inability to
learn from or even acknowledge his policy mistakes has
disqualified him from four years more in the Oval
Office.
.
The next four years must be a time of rebuilding.
We must correct foreign and domestic missteps that
have squandered our international reputation
as a fair-minded superpower and have wasted
national treasure on an ill-conceived tax cut
and a poorly planned war. Most of all, we
need to restore the domestic unity that Bush promised
four years ago would be central to his administration.
Instead, he served up a steady diet of bitter partisan-
ship that totally conflicts with the strong sense of
national purpose that he briefly helped to craft after
the disaster of Sept. 11, 2001.
We have substantial empathy with the many Jews
who favor Bush because they admire his steadfast sup-
port for Israel and the policies being pursued by Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon.
Bush's endorsement of not talking with Yasser Arafat
and not granting Palestinians a "right" of return to
Israel, his backing for the planned Gaza withdrawal
and the West Bank security barrier, and his rejection of
the one-sided United Nations resolutions against Israel
are admirable. But this is an election for president of
the United States, not prime minister of Israel.
What is paramount for Jewish Americans is
what is in the best long-term interest of this
country and the world, with special emphasis
on Israel. We have every right to be more
interested in here and in Israel than in
Angola, the Philippines, France and the
United Nations.
Kerry has repeatedly pledged to continue
the strong alliance between the U.S. and
Israel. But unlike Bush, who has played all his
Mideast cards, Kerry is in a position to make
a new start at developing a global consensus
that assures Israel's security and addresses
replacing the corrupt Palestinian
Authority with a viable governmen-
tal structure to curb the terrorists
and deliver critical civic services.
Domestically, the senator has promised to
develop a viable energy policy — unlike the
one put together in secrecy by Vice President
Dick Cheney — that could lessen American depend-
ence on oil from the Arab Mideast. That might finally
allow us to protest effectively against the Arab autocra-
cies that use the Israeli-Palestinian war as an excuse for
not reforming their own governance.
As we noted last week, Kerry offers a better approach
to dealing with terrorism in sustained, effective ways.
He may be able to bring some of our traditional allies
into the daunting task of repairing the Iraq that Bush
has 'so badly broken.
He also is substantially in tune with the feelings of
Jewish America about the value of equal educational
opportunity, about the need for a fair health system
'THE OTHER 6 1
WHEN WE
"TARGET" THE
KILLERS.
TH
°NI°
STAND!.
"
rTITIST1
VHEN
THEY KILL
INNOCENT
CIVILIANS IN
ISRAEL.
GUESS WHICH
UPSETS THE
'UNITED
NATIONS"!
EDITORIAL
Love Versus Marriage
T
he gay marriage amendment to the Michigan
Constitution is, you should pardon the expres-
sion, an unholy mess. Even those uncomfort-
able with the idea of gay marriage have good reasons to
oppose it.
The precedent of embedding a restriction on a spe-
cific minority in the constitution is repellent.
Constitutions are created to protect such groups.
But the clumsy wording of the proposal may have
the effect of barring gay civil unions along with mar-
riages. That makes it an economic issue. I cannot see
how interfering with the extension of health and other
benefits to such couples possibly serves the best interest
of government.
Beyond the rhetoric about finding happiness and
love with a partner for life, that is the core of it.
Having said that, I am not especially alarmed about
this being a religious intrusion into secular life. Jewish
and Christian conservatives, especially the Catholic
Church, are adamantly opposed to gay marriage and
vocally support the amendment.
That is certainly their right. I don't believe that reli-
George Cantor's e-mail address is
gcantor@thejewisimews.com
and about maintaining our natural environment and
resources for future generations. He would appoint
Supreme Court justices and an attorney general corn-
mitted to social justice. He is far more sensitive than
Bush about why the historic American wall between
the government and organized religion must be
observed both in the letter and the spirit of the First
Amendment.
George W. Bush has been a steadfast friend of Israel.
John F. Kerry has been, too. On every other issue of
real meaning to Jews and non-Jews alike, Kerry out-
shines Bush. He deserves the full support of the Jewish
community. He certainly has ours. ❑
and clan alliances for mutual protection and
gious convictions must be left at the door
economic benefits. The second was to create
when you enter the public arena in America. It
an orderly means of transmitting property
is a pretty pallid religion that does not inform
from one generation to the next. It established
your choices as a citizen.
blood legitimacy for inheritance.
The Establishment Clause of the U.S.
The ancient Greeks, with the highest toler-
Constitution was never intended to mandate a
ance for homosexuality in recorded history,
removal of all religious belief from public life.
never countenanced anything like gay mar-
So if conservative religious groups want to sup-
riage. It was understood that such liaisons,
port this amendment, even if it is a terrible law,
GEO RGE
generally accepted as they may have been, had
go for it.
CAN TOR
nothing to do with marriage.
Besides, they are less to blame for the over-
Rea lily
The code of chivalry in the Middle Ages
wrought reaction to gay marriage than is Gavin
eck
Ch
glorified
romance, but also recognized it as a
Newsom, the publicity-hound mayor of San
thing apart from marriage. It was a source of
Francisco. His outright defiance of California law
wonder, and sometimes disapproval, when
in performing gay marriage ceremonies is what
married couples actually fell in love with each other.
touched off this backlash.
Who can forget Tevye's plaintive question to his wife
Americans have a decent tolerance for social change
of
25 years: "Do You Love Me?" The plot of Fiddler is
if it is supported by law. They do not like having their
driven
by the way romantic love shattered Jewish mari-
faces rubbed in it, though, when civil disobedience
tal
tradition.
turns into grandstanding for the media.
Only in our own enlightened times has romance
By concentrating on the economic underpinnings of
been accepted as the essential element in marriage, gay
gay civil unions, and keeping romantic declamations
or otherwise. That probably does more than anything
out of it, a principled case can be made against this
else to explain the divorce rate in our culture.
misbegotten amendment. Romance and religion only
Advocates of this amendment argue that even gay
confuse the issue.
civil
unions would undermine heterosexual marriage. I
There were two essential purposes for marriage as
think
it's already too late to worry about that,
human society evolved. The first was to extend family
❑
10/22
2004
45