President Truman's Palestine Policy - 1945

WARNING: Do not break the law before, during, or after reading anything I mention.


An excerpt from my article on the Recognition of Israel.

     On Thursday, August 16, 1945, shortly after returning from Potsdam, Germany, United States President Harry Truman gathered the White House press corps in his office for a mid-morning news conference. The president was in a chipper mood. He jokingly told the eager reporters "you hadn't all had a chance to look me in the face or ask me any impertinent questions." Laughter from the news corps broke out, as the president wryly smiled, then further aroused his attentive audience's humor by adding that there was nothing "that you would break your arms to get out of the door for this morning." As the festive greeting and hardy laughs eased down, more serious business began. After a few questions concerning the future of the Manhattan project, V-J Day, and General Douglas MacArthur's surrender terms with the Japanese, a reporter asked if there was "[a]nything about the Jewish national state discussed at Potsdam?" Truman candidly disclosed that he "discussed the matter with Mr. Churchill and Mr. Attlee, and [was] still discussing it." A follow-up question beckoned from another Washington scribbler, "not with Stalin?" The president casually replied, "No, there was nothing he could do about it." Truman isolated Stalin and the Soviet Union by downplaying their significance as an important influence in the Near East. Great Britain was the nation necessary to secure a peaceful path in a strategic region. President Truman adeptly handled a variety of other questions peppered to him by the ravenous press corps.

     Toward the end of the press conference, an inquisitive reporter could not leave until the president could at least elaborate a bit more about a Jewish national state. The correspondent wanted to pin the president down on a direct policy position, and further asked "[w]hat was the American view on Palestine at Berlin?" Truman realistically asserted that American foreign policy toward Palestine was primarily concerned with letting "as many Jews into Palestine as it is possible to let into that country." President Truman, and several other administration officials, were seriously concerned about exacerbating the humanitarian situation with uninhibited mass migration into Palestine. The President also announced that the situation would "have to be worked out diplomatically with the British and the Arabs." "[I]f a state can be set up there," the president cautiously advanced, "they may be able to set it up on a peaceful basis." Optimism about a peaceful settlement of a Jewish state in Palestine was sincere and pragmatic. Truman recognized and appreciated the innumerable unforeseen ramifications surrounding such a noble endeavor, while delicately maneuvering through the seemingly innocuous and "impertinent" questions. President Truman's diplomatic willingness to publically back the possibility of a Jewish national state, with certain conditions, was an act of national clarity on policy, and, given cold war constructs, security. The Chief Diplomat maintained that the United States had "no desire to send 500,000 American soldiers there to make peace in Palestine." Truman, acting in his constitutional authority as Chief Diplomat, altered U.S. policy toward Palestine during that seemingly innocuous media session. The President utilized an informal press conference to delineate policy parameters regarding Palestine. From the earliest stages of the Truman administration, Jewish immigration, a future Jewish state, and cold war intrigues were important issues driving the president's policy considerations, not political expediency.

Warren R. Reid, Public Papers of the Presidents: Harry S. Truman 1945 (Washington, D.C., 1961), 224-26, 228.

Extreme Liberalism Is a Threat to Liberty

WARNING: Do not break the law before, during, or after reading anything I mention.


Liberty is a liberal notion, and moderate forces must prevail in tempering its intensity. All too often humans are succumbed by intemperate passions that unduly influence perceptions and actions. The extremes of liberalism manifest themselves in two distinct ways. One extreme is either too liberal and the other is not liberal enough. The former is excessively liberal in matters of perceptions and conceptions, and the latter is excessively deficient in the same respects. A majority of human beings are moderately liberal in nature, and have a desire to acquire more freedom, security, and happiness in a temperate manner. Extremes of liberalism are far from the moderate stream of normal behavior. Individuals either reduce their liberalness or increase it. For those who are too liberal, they seem to want to do all things for all people, and expect others to follow in that line of thinking. There are also those who are not liberal enough, and exhibit the same stubbornness, but are narrow-minded individuals with parochial views. Both extremes are righteously indignant to each other and the more moderate sentiments. Given that the extremes are really minority sentiments, they should not be as influential as they currently are. It seems as if American citizens, the vast majority moderately liberal in nature, according to the present description, should not be torn apart by the radical extremes that hamper domestic tranquility.

No matter what the party label, in this country’s political history, the fundamental question vexing every citizen is how much power we grant the Federal government, and what is the extent of it, according to the United States Constitution. Both the major political party’s, in recent history, have come down on either side of this fundamental question perpetually facing American citizens. The Democratic Party has the notion that the Federal government should do more, for more, with more, and the Republican Party is the exact opposite. The problem with the two party system is that there are extreme forces at work in each.  The base in each party are really extremes that exert too much influence given its minority representation.  It is a shame that only 60% of American citizens vote, given the close nature of political contests.  The other 40% could push the slim majorities in either way, giving more legitimacy to our national voice.  The extremes need to be banished from the two major party's, and forced to become independent entities, with their own structure, and their own candidates, and not continue to infect the more moderate forces by hiding in the two party's.  The influential extremes of liberalism must be diminshed in order to move this country forward in the 21st century.

American Principles for the 21st Century

WARNING: Do not break the law before, during, or after reading anything I mention.

 National Security

There are numerous enemies, foreign and domestic, that seek to undermine the best practices of universal Liberty. The nations, groups, and individuals that suppress Liberty tend to be the assailants of our own. Our Constitutional Republic must have security as its primary objective, without it, we cannot enjoy the blessings of Liberty. We need to foster alliances based on Liberty and mutual respect with independent nations. America, when it is in our national interest, should engage with any nation, group, or individual, no matter their character.

It is an imperative to our national survival, and to all liberty-loving nations of the world, to have a military capability able and flexible enough to protect diplomatic and economic interests abroad, and keep forging international relationships based on the best practices of sovereign nations.

An efficient and flexible system is essential to protect the United States from various forms of foreign and domestic threats to our collective freedom, and, if necessary, our allies, while never surrendering our dignity, independence, and national sovereignty. Temporary alliances are necessary instruments as long the interests of this nation are at stake, just as every other country has a right to do. America must always possess liberty, justice, mercy, benevolence, honest industry, and even severity, if necessary, in our peaceful endeavors throughout the free world.

America’s borders, most especially the southern line, need a great deal more security.  Without a stronger border policy and infrastructure, our sovereignty is at stake, and our laws flouted.  Illegal immigration and contraband denigrates the sanctity of laws and citizenship.

Every port, terminal, and major energy facilities must be secure. Our information and communication infrastructure needs more attention on and around earth. An integrated space platform and a satellite defense system are two critical components to our national security.

Combine all foreign and domestic intelligence agencies, except military components, into one department or super agency, and placed in the Homeland Security Department.  Every element from every department or agency that deals with terrorism should coalesce into one entity with one budget.

U.S. Armed Forces are a volunteer force.  There should only be a compulsory draft if a nation invaded America, or imminent invasion, by a substantially credible threat of professional forces.  Our national guard should be de-federalized, or at least a modest state militia created to attend to local emergencies. ROTC programs should be encouraged and a high school volunteer multi-disciplinary intern program established. 

Every service member deserves equal rights and privileges under the law while serving the United States. Recent veterans, our most honorable citizens, should have access to free education if engaged in actual combat, or served at least eight years.  Repatriation and professional development programs are necessary to ensure a smoother transition when veterans return home.  All soldiers, and their immediate family, must receive uninterrupted full benefits and pay while on active duty. All disabled soldiers and honorably discharged veterans should receive full lifetime benefits. Any fallen soldier in combat receives a Liberty Badge of Honor to distinguish their last measure of devotion from the rest of our intrepid citizens. Full lifetime benefits are in order for the spouse and children under eighteen, and a college scholarship fund set aside for their children.

All citizens should respect the right to keep and bear arms, and to protect each other and this nation from all forms of tyranny and lethal threats to our life, liberty, and property.

Education
An ignorant and undereducated citizenry is a threat to our Liberty. State, county, and local governments should be the primary vehicle for education in the United States. The Federal component should be minimal at best. Public education is primarily the jurisdiction of State governments. The Federal Department of Education should have a much-reduced role, if not abolished, and placed in the State Department, along with the HHS and DOT. We are still in the chalk and eraser stage and need to advance with technology.

Every public school should be fully equipped with information technology and linked on a national network to enhance our interconnectedness and share information. Math and science should be a major focus of curriculum; our children and posterity are the innovators of the future.

The Federal government should entice, through a reduction of payroll and corporate taxes, private companies to donate IT infrastructure and renovate or construct buildings, modernize and consolidate the numerous facilities that currently exist, first targeting the most economically distressed districts.  Reform teacher/administrator pensions, have a merit-based system with competitive pay scales.

Household financing and economics needs to be invigorated. Volunteering and community service should be encouraged. Also, physical fitness and nutrition are essential components to a well-rounded education. Civic education is also vitally important to produce a basic, but well-defined, understanding of the virtues and values of citizenship. Vocational trade schools and charter schools are important institutions that need investment.  English should be the official language of the United States, not be considered a second language.

Economy/Taxes
There is nothing that frustrates the electorate more than excessive taxes, waste, and fraud. A large national debt, and continuing budget deficits are blemishes on our national character.  The Federal budget should be balanced, unless during a major crises. Non-essential services, commissions, agencies, and departments should be decreased, or abolished.  Free-market capitalism can only exist and thrive when Life, Liberty and Property is protected. Proper and transparent regulation of financial institutions, and the various capital instruments, is required to earn the trust, faith, and confidence of American citizens and people abroad.

A stronger United States dollar, low inflation, and a proportional trade balance are critically important to this nation. Levy a 10% tax increase on all imported goods, and invest in commercial infrastructure and security.  For all those global corporations that might be impacted by oversea retaliation, taxes on domestic profits will be reduced if the foreign burden proves to be a major issue to the bottom line.

Elements in the Federal Bureau of Investigation having to do with fraud and white collar crimes should be combined with the SEC and the IRS, and placed in the Treasury Department to investigate domestic financial corruption and foreign manipulation. Elements of the Commerce and Labor Departments placed in the Treasury Department; otherwise, a reduced footprint is in order. 

Individuals and corporations should be attached to, and responsible for, any financial risks they assume in capital markets, experiencing the gains as well as the losses. Everyone should have private and personal retirement and health care accounts. Do not overextend credit beyond an ability to pay for it, and live within the means.

The Federal government should not institute a public health insurance plan, rather, provide incentives for lower cost and competition, and reduce the amount of frivolous court cases promoted by self-interested lawyers. No company is too big to fail.  The Federal government must not establish any interest in any public or private institution, or group of institutions.

The obligations of contracts shall not be impaired. Immediately, all federal taxes on income should be lowered by at least 20%. Any new tax scheme can only exist as a law for 2 years, and must have 2/3 of both Houses of Congress to enact and extend. Any new service, program, or mandate, must have 2/3 of both Houses of Congress to enact.

Federal income taxes should be based on a flat rate, a cap at 20%, citizens pay more on a voluntary basis, or an outright repeal/alteration of the 16th Amendment to also include a proportional enumeration. No tax should be levied that unjustly targets any particular segment of society for any reason or public benefit.

A special tax during emergencies can be levied, but only by a vote of 2/3 of both Houses of Congress. A full audit of the Federal government must occur at least once every Congressional session, and made public through various mediums.  All individuals wishing to pay more to the federal government can simply write a check.

Lower taxes across the board will provide extra resources for individuals and businesses to create jobs and be productive. Our national infrastructure needs refurbishment, especially the interstate highway, water and energy facilities, ports, bridges, rails, and tunnels, to provide the free and safe flow of people and commerce throughout our vast continent.

Federal taxpayer money should not be spent on internal state projects that do not have to do with interstate commerce.  All customs duties excises and imposts on commerce, going into the federal treasury should only be used for a national infrastructure project.  For example, a public transportation system in a particular city should be the responsibility of the state, county, or city/town.  A bridge crossing state lines, an interstate highway, or a port engaged with interstate and foreign commerce is under the jurisdiction of congress.

State revenue derived from taxing commerce coming from another State and sold must be used for internal state regulation of customs duties and infrastructure expenditures, and any surplus revenue must go to the Federal Treasury as the constitution requires.

Employment, investment, and national growth could thrive under these moderate proposals.

Energy Independence

Diverse energy resources are vital components to the United States economy and national security. Crude oil is a carbon-based resource that has numerous applications and will continue to be, in the immediate and foreseeable future, a major world commodity.

To protect our nation from the instability and whims of a commodity market, we need energy independence. Within the next generation or two alternative fuel sources will be the leading segment of energy production. We need to harness all the vast energy resources and opportunities of our continent, and put people to work in all the various resource industries.  Wind, solar, bio-fuels, hydro, geothermal, nuclear, oil, natural gas, clean coal, are agents of power generation and fuel that we are going to depend on.

The Federal government is the largest landowner.  They are sitting on massive resources, proven and unknown quantities, which would enable us to be energy independent.

The agricultural industry is a most critical resource that sustains our population. We all need a balanced diet of meat, fish, dairy, poultry, fruit, vegetables, grains, nuts, sugars, and fats, America can produce all of this for us and the other dependent populations of the world. Agriculture is an important American characteristic of this nation, and human existence, which should always be a noble, reliable, profitable, and safe industry.  Our utility infrastructure should be diverse and integrated into a national grid system that is safe, reliable, connected, and secure.

Employment, technological innovation, energy independence, and national security are common benefits to every American citizen. Our national security, education, economy, and energy are inextricably linked together and must foster innovation and leadership in the 21st century. America is blessed with tremendous human and natural resources that can be marshaled together for the mutual benefit of humankind.  If we encourage these principles, through a limited, but highly focused national government, America will continue to excel for at least two more centuries.  

We Have A Republic, Sir.

WARNING: Do not break the law before, during, or after reading anything I mention.



On Sunday morning we got a tasty treat on ABC's "This Week," in which Roger Ailes, Titan of Fox News, dug in on enemy ground and defended his character, his business, and conservative values. One of the many interesting statements that caught my attention, though, was Paul Krugman's statement:


KRUGMAN: Well because we have a super majority system. Because we have a system in which you cannot at this point get anything done without 60 points in the Senate. I mean, what I've been thinking about right now is at this point, the House of Representatives has passed a health care bill and has passed a strong financial reform bill. It has passed a strong climate change bill. In any other advanced democracy, that would mean that all of these things would have happened. But in the U.S. system, it takes 60 votes in the Senate to accomplish anything and because the Democrats nominated somebody in Massachusetts who didn't know her Red Sox, that entire agenda has run aground -- incredible.

Read more: http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2010/01/31/paul-krugman-and-arianna-huffington-v-roger-ailes/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+timeblogs/swampland+(TIME:+Swampland)#ixzz0eKvGSpcA

We have a Republic, Sir. The House of Representatives is the more democratic branch, since it is attached to the people in numerous districts. The Senate is more closely aligned with the states, and have distinct executive and legislative features, which, at times, serves as a buffer against hasty majorities in the House. The real significance of Krugman's views is that they do not appreciate our governing system. The arrogance is there for all to see and hear too, and the utter contempt for the prudent citizens of Massachusetts, as if they voted simply based on baseball. To even suggest that was a motivating factor of voters, on national television, performs a gross disservice to the journalism profession, and human reason, whatever they are these days.

The Reformation of Islam

WARNING: Do not break the law before, during, or after reading anything I mention.


The stream of foreign invaders coming to America are mainly derived from tyrannical regimes of the Near and Far East. These broken countries are ruled by despotic rulers who suppress liberty and blame their condition on America, the West, and Israel. The petty Princes and tyrants are doing just fine by accumulating more wealth and power over the population. Freedom of expression is tightly controlled, unless it is anti-American. Princes and tyrants play a double game of living off the West, while providing a virulent and warped religious instruction that perpetuates hatred and suspicion. We are now experiencing the Reformation of Islam and its consequences. Muslim's are trying to free their minds from oppressive restraints, and extricate a noble religion, which is inextricably linked to the state. When a government assumes control over education and religion, it stifles freedom. Liberty is the remedy for all the symptoms they are exhibiting. There is a struggle over who will control the minds of the population, and states have always corrupted religion and education to accomplish that end. It is unbelievable that any rational individual could place blame on America and "the West."

Citizenship Jeopardized

WARNING: Do not break the law before, during, or after reading anything I mention.


Our citizenship is diminished, and ultimately jeopardized, by granting all the privileges and immunities that come with it, to foreign invaders. Any non-citizen that commits blatant acts of terror should never be granted the same rights that citizens earned by ancestral birthright and naturalization. Miranda Rights should never be issued to foreign Jihadists, and they must be swiftly handled by military justice, without mercy. Assailants that fail in their attempt, like the shoe and underwear bombers, they must serve the rest of their lives in a military prison. As for American citizens waging Jihad, or other similar acts motivated by political ideologies, they are traitors, and, given the particular circumstances, should either be tried in a federal court or military tribunal, subject to death.


It is unconscionable that our government was about to attempt a very public trial in New York City. Send those murdering monsters to an undisclosed military prison, preferably not on this continent, to await American justice. The idea of a public trial was only conjured up to provide a warm and fuzzy flavor for foreign consumption, a dangerous appeasement and compromise on Camp Gitmo. The only compromise was our God given rights we posses as American citizens.

Aratus of America: A Real Conservative Opinion

WARNING: Do not break the law before, during, or after reading anything I mention.


Conservatism will outlast celebrified pundits. Any attempt to smear us through them will ultimately fail. We are larger than puny views of Glenn Beck, or the comedic sportscaster parading around as a serious journalist. It is absurd for anyone to even suggest, compare, or draw a parallel between those tyrants Beck referenced and our current political arrangement. We should only hope that those tyrannies never rise again, because you know who will be there to save the world again. The American people, I am sure, would prevent anything of the sort from being erected on this soil.


Since the federal government was created, the only question that remains, and will continue to remain, is how much power, as citizens, do we relinquish to it. It is clear to this citizen, at least, that the amount of power has increased well beyond the limited scope of constitutional boundaries, and has steadily outgrown its ability to sustain its expenditures.

This situation did not just suddenly appear with a new administration; it has slowly crept in and assumed a life of its own. The nature of the problem is a bloated bureaucratic machine, always clamoring for more resources because they do too much. Influential careerists, administering multitudes of agencies, control personal fiefdoms that provide special services in return for favors. This is why they tend not to share information with each other, because they compete for resources and use the information they acquired. It is time to send some of those salaried pensioners back to their respective states; maybe they can help out, or are the only jobs worth having in the federal government.