Democrats have removed any mention of God from their party platform, dropping language from the 2008 version that at least had a passing reference to the Creator whom the founders of the nation explained grants the rights we enjoy.
Wednesday morning on a cable talk show, Republican VP candidate Paul Ryan said, "I think it is rather peculiar. It is not in keeping with our Founders' positions."
Previous to this DNC platform change, Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was a position on which both parties could agree. While the two state solution would require the participants to work out the final position, as would be appropriate, the current position of the United States is that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Speaking on cable news, the former Israeli ambassador to the U.N., Dan Gillerman, said that Israel is disappointed that the Democrats chose to remove the wording that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, as he reminded viewers he heard Barack Obama state at AIPAC just before he was swore into office affirm his commitment to that position.
Moreover, the 2008 platform said that "the creation of a Palestinian state through final status negotiations, together with an international compensation mechanism, should resolve the issue of Palestinian refugees by allowing them to settle there, rather than in Israel" and that "Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel. The parties have agreed that Jerusalem is a matter for final status negotiations. It should remain an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths."This does nothing to persuade those doubting the level of support for Israel within the Democratic party and the Obama administration. It is true that a party's platform coming out of a convention is a statement of the party beliefs and the candidate doesn't have to claim full ownership of the platform, but with this historic omission, it sure does raise some questions.
In 2012, however, the Democratic platform made no mention of Jerusalem or the "international compensation mechanism" to resolve the issue of the Palestinian refugees.
1 comment:
Mentioning God? The Republicans god is MONEY, as their billionaire altar boys scurry around....
Those who would destroy Social Security & voucher Medicare to death, and who readily admit they “don’t care about the very poor” should stop, remember, and take to heart the words “Whatsoever you do for the least of these - you do for me”.
Our Founding Fathers wisely realized that politics, secular power, and religion do not mix. That it would bring out the worst in each other. That ultimately they would destroy each other, and us, in the process.
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