Other stuff

What has been happening in Israel and the Palestinian territories for the last several decades is nothing short of a human tragedy. And all three of the parties involved are to blame, in my opinion.

Israelis live in fear, certainly, and deserve our support for their efforts to protect themselves, but Israel is by and large a prosperous, safe country for its 10 million residents.

Palestinians, on the other hand, live in misery, and have for decades. The Gaza Strip is about 25 miles long and 5 miles wide, and is home to about 2 million people who are basically living in an open-air prison. Their international travel is controlled by Israel and thus severely limited. Their southern border is controlled by Egypt and has been closed off-and-on for decades due to terror activities by Hamas. All international aid goes through Israel, which has shown no reluctance to restrict that aid or shut it off completely.

Speaking of Hamas, the last election in Gaza was in 2007, while the average age of Gazans is 20, meaning that most of them have never voted for any of their leaders. Yet Hamas is not just a terror organization, it also runs the government, the hospitals, the schools, every aspect of official life. And represses its opposition. So it's fair to say that just because they're in power doesn't mean they represent the people's actual interests and values.

In the West Bank, Palestinians are largely seen as obstacles for "settlers" who want to restore the land to its millennia-old borders. Palestinian farms are walled off and roads built through them to ease access between by Jewish "settlements" (they range in size from about 100 residents to more than 80,000).

And while I know this is not the specific policy of Israel, some of their leaders have tacitly or actively supported these actions over the decades. Benjamin Netanyahu once bragged about "mowing the grass" in Gaza by launching sporadic military operations it claims are hurting Hamas' capabilities for terror. Hamas just regrouped; Israel just waited a few months and did it again. The only real change was the Palestinians' suffering.

When Donald Trump negotiated the Abraham Accords -- a landmark peace agreement among several Arab countries and Israel -- he did not include the Palestinians. The Israel-Palestine conflict is a major source of unrest across the Middle East, yet one half of the equation was left out of the talks.

I spoke with a Jewish gentleman a few weeks ago, who thought the best solution would be a unity government, and a truth and reconciliation commission like what has helped South Africa heal much of its past. But I think what's happening in Israel and Gaza is generations deep, and it will be a long time, if ever, before they could ever live under the same government. In my opinion, the only viable solution is for there to be two separate, autonomous states, and the United States should make helping that come about its primary goal, No more silence and status quo.

I think the beginning of our latest great national divide began in the 1980s, when then-candidate Ronald Reagan would charm his audiences by saying "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government, and I'm here to help." The audience laughed, but they were being subtly taught to view government and government employees as the enemy of the people.

It's been the Republican mission ever since. Grover Norquist famously said in 2001: "I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub." We've all seen what Elon Musk and his DOGE employees did in 2025, with massive, across-the-board firings regardless of the consequences. Thousands of probationary federal workers who were abruptly fired were ordered reinstated by a federal court, while several agencies rehired laid-off staff after severe cuts hindered basic operations, but the damage done to our institutions will take decades to repair.

Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich changed the House dramatically during his tenure from 1995 to 1999. He shifted the focus of congressional campaigns from local constituent services to broad, nationalized platforms, such as his 1994 "Contract with America," which forced candidates to pledge fealty to a single, nationalized party agenda. He centralized power, abolished independent research agencies, and punished freshmen lawmakers who attempted to form bipartisan friendships. And he normalized the use of government shutdowns as leverage in budget battles.

It's only gotten worse. He and every Republican speaker who followed him has resigned in disgrace or disgust. The current speaker only got the job after Kevin McCarthy was ousted after only nine months on the job, and three other candidates failed to garner enough support. And it took him four votes to do it. Not so much a popular leader as a last resort after three weeks so they could get back to business.

There are many reforms that would make the House more representative of the people it serves. They should be the first thing a new Congress does, so that the new speaker will abide by them. Here are a few:

1) Restoring a more open amendment process on the House floor. Allowing more floor amendments, rather than restricting them through the Rules Committee, encourages members to work across the aisle on compromises and policy refinements.

2) Lowering the number of signatures required on a discharge petition (and allowing private signature collection) to force floor votes on bills that have substantial bipartisan support, even if party leadership opposes them.

3) Rebuilding the committee system so that bills are actually debated, marked up, and advanced by members rather than pre-negotiated by leadership. This includes encouraging bipartisan committee retreats and improving shared access to nonpartisan staff resources.

4) Closing loopholes so that bills reaching a high threshold of co-sponsors (e.g., 290 members) are automatically granted a floor vote, ensuring bipartisan legislation gets a fair hearing.

This one's next.

I'll be adding issues as I think of them. Any suggestions?

I'll have something here soon, I'm sure.