Why I am a Revolutionary

From time to time I'm accused of being a "revolutionary." Well, it's true. I am indeed a revolutionary-perhaps the only persistent and consistent revolutionary in Israel! Yes, I want to see a revolution in Israel-a real revolution-and there's only one kind that would suit me: a DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION!

That's right: I want to see every institution of government in Israel democratized. I want to democratize the Legislative Branch, the Knesset, by making its members personally elected by and accountable to the voters in regional elections. I want to see incumbent MKs defend their records before a rival candidate-as is done in 74 out of 75 democratic countries. Conversely, I want to see rival candidates expose the failings of MKs seeking re-election. I want the voters to have an opportunity to make a real choice between these rivals. I'm sick and tired of fixed party lists that allow the likes of Shimon Peres to remain in office for more than four decades. I'm fed up with MKs who, because they top their party list, become cabinet ministers, only to ignore public opinion with impunity. Stated another way: I want to take power away from the Parties and give it to the People. That makes me a revolutionary!

I also want to democratize the Executive Branch, the Government, whose prime minister frequently ignores his cabinet and makes agreements with foreign entities without cabinet or Knesset approval. I'm disgusted with a Government whose cabinet ministers represent rival parties-fiefdoms or thiefdoms-whose primary objective is to maximize their share of the public treasury. I deplore a Government that lacks transparency and collective responsibility. I regard with horror a Government that can yield Jewish land to a gang of terrorists-as if this land were some sort of private property. I want to replace this inept and corrupt system of multi-party cabinet government with a Presidential system that can pursue coherent and resolute national policies conducive to the good of the Jewish people.

And I want to democratize the Judicial Branch, by drastically changing the method of appointing the Supreme Court. This self- perpetuating oligarchy is dominated by ultra-secularists who represent only a small minority of the public-those "enlightened" individuals who foisted Oslo on the Jewish people. Away with a Supreme Court whose president and two other sitting judges control appointments to that body! Away with a Supreme Court, many of whose decisions violate the abiding beliefs and values of the overwhelming majority of the Jews in this country! I want to put an end to this judicial despotism by having members of the court nominated by the President (assisted by a council learned in Jewish and secular law) and confirmed by the Legislature. And I want to divest this Court of the power to nullify laws enacted by the Legislature and signed by the President.

Finally, I want to democratize the economy. A dozen families and a few banks own or control some 90% of the assets of this country. I'd like to see expanded capital ownership, partly by means of Employee Stock Ownership Programs. In short, I want not only political democracy but economic democracy-and that's what makes me a revolutionary.

That's right folks: I favor government of the people, for the people, and by the people-something the State of Israel-the "only democracy in the Middle East"-has never had.

And let me tell you, virtually every politician in this country - while constantly paying lip-service to democracy - is the enemy of democracy. But this means that virtually every politician, objectively speaking, is an enemy of the Jewish people!

True, stalwart, and knowledgeable friends of the Jewish people must be revolutionary. They must unite and they must combine their resources to bring about a democratic revolution in the undemocratic State of Israel!

"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and he carries his banners openly. But the traitor moves among those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the galleys, heard in the very hall of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor-he speaks in the accents familiar to his victims, and wears their face and their garment, and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation-he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of a city-he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to be feared." - Cicero, 42 B.C.E.