Coming Out as not 'Conservative'

Years ago, I suspected I wasn't a "conservative" because I did not share the animosity toward Barack Obama that my fellows on the right did. I recognized that Obama’s policies were antagonistic toward Israel; that his Jewish advisors were wrong-headed. I knew that he torpedoed hope for useful negotiations by calling for a settlement freeze on day-one of his administration. I knew that he mis-read the fundamentals of the Arab-Israel conflict.

But I never felt he was behaving out of nefarious motives. I disagreed with his policies on Israel, but I saw no reason to demonize him. 

My distancing from the "conservatives" became clearer when Donald Trump was seeking the presidency.

Yes, on the surface, his policies appear favorable to Israel, but even if they are, they do not cover all his sins. 

I reject false choices and either/or politics - either Trump or the radical-left Democrats.  A plague on both your houses!

I knew I was not a "conservative" when years ago I lost faith in Netanyahu’s management of my country. Of his cow-towing to the forces of clerical and social darkness; his transparent demagoguery. His pathetic brown-nosing of Trump. 

 

So, if "conservatism" in 2019 requires the embrace of illiberal values, populism, and shilling for Trump, I am no “conservative.”

I am a student of genuine classical liberals (a/k/a conservatives) foremost Madison and Jabotinsky. 

In Trump and Netanyahu I see nothing worth conserving.