Playing the chess board in front of us.

November 25, 2023

          The purpose of this brief newsletter is to open the Comment section to paying subscribers over the weekend. As always, please be civil and direct your replies to the views expressed by others rather than at your fellow readers. Disagreement is expected and healthy; personal attacks won’t be tolerated. The Comment section of this newsletter has been a supportive, thoughtful, and safe place to express opinions. Let’s keep it that way. Thanks!

First hostages released.

          The first hostages have been released in Israel and it appears that the four-day cease-fire is holding. In remarks to reporters, President Biden said that conditioning military aid to Israel was

a worthwhile thought, but I don’t think if I started off with that we would have ever gotten where we are today.

          The history of Biden’s handling of the Israeli war on Hamas has yet to be written. But he makes a point that deserves serious consideration. If he had demanded an immediate cease-fire, Israel’s willingness to agree to a temporary humanitarian pause might have been different.

Far-right leader in the Netherlands wins plurality in election.

          The Netherlands has its own “Donald Trump” wannabe—Geert Wilders. Wilders is an Islamophobic far-right leader whose party just won the most votes in a “snap” parliamentary election. It now falls to Wilders to form a government. Wilders’ party has called for the “de-Islamization” of the Netherlands . . . . [including] no mosques or Islamic schools in the country.” See AP, In a political shift to the far right, anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders wins big in Dutch election.

          It is difficult to make direct comparisons between the parliamentary electoral system in the Netherlands and the US electoral college. But Wilders “victory” was achieved with only 24% of the vote, with the other 76% being split between two dozen other parties. In other words, “splitting the vote” allowed a far-right anti-Islamic extremist to gain control of the Dutch government. Reader Elisabeth I. wrote a note saying,

As Dutch expats, we are so mad at all the people who have chosen to stay home in the Netherlands. It resulted in a huge win for the far-right party of Wilders. Why is it so devastating for democracy that so few people turned out to vote? Because now a minority of about 11.5% of all eligible voters will have a huge impact on the lives of 17.8 million people (the total population of the Netherlands.)

          Wilders and Trump share Islamophobia (and dictatorial instincts). The results in the Netherlands are a stark reminder that turnout is key, that third- and fourth-party candidates generally help the extremist candidate, and that voting against Biden because of disagreement over his handling of Israel’s war on Hamas will increase the chance that Trump will win—the opposite of what supporters of Palestine should want.

Leadership Forum on Burnout and Sustainability.

For those of you who signed up for the Grassroots Leaders Forum on Burnout on November 30, 2023, at Noon Pacific / 3:00 PM Eastern, I sent an email with the Zoom registration link on Friday evening. If the email with the Zoom registration link is not in your “inbox",” it has been diverted to your Junk or Spam folders. Move the message back into your inbox to register to receive the Zoom information.

Concluding Thoughts.

          Politics is complicated and requires the balancing of competing and (sometimes) inconsistent interests. For those upset with Biden’s reluctance to make a public call for a cease-fire, look to the results of his strategy. It is understandable that some people are upset or angry with Biden. I won’t try to talk anyone out of their feelings (or, as my Managing Editor wisely counsels, “Don’t tell me how I should feel.”)

          As I wrote several weeks ago, “Voting is a chess move, not a Valentine’s Day card.”* Looking at the chess board in front of us, there is only one winning strategy: ensure the re-election of Joe Biden by increasing turn-out!

          Enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend! Talk to you on Monday!

*The originator of the quote is Rebecca Solnit from an interview she gave to The Nation. I originally discussed Ms. Solnit’s quote in my newsletter, “Biden endorses a pause,” which is linked above.