We are not a nation of selective compassion ... are we?

Susan Cornwall writes about how Few Speak Out for Palestinians in US Congress - via commondreams.org

Does a moral perspective include cheering on the destruction of other human beings regardless of what side of the fence you step from?

Can we call evil good just because we agree with one side over the other?

Cornwall:

WASHINGTON - Many voices around the world speak up for the Palestinians, but few in the U.S. Congress.

Lawmakers in Washington routinely pass nonbinding resolutions supporting Israel during Middle East crises. The Senate on Thursday backed Israel's battle against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip and the House of Representatives followed on Friday.
Even U.S. lawmakers who express sympathy for the Palestinians hesitate to call themselves pro-Palestinian and they voice strong support for the security of Israel as well, hewing to decades of close U.S.-Israeli ties.

Why not?

Are we such a poorly moralistic society that our elected representatives can easily assume that our pretend Christian partisan attitude about Israel lets us look the other way when Israel acts precisely like its Old Testament Divine Tyrant?

Harry Reid, who leads the Democratic majority in the Senate, gave voice to the depth of the relationship when he said on Thursday, "Our resolution reflects the will of the State of Israel and the will of the American people."
The Senate measure offered "unwavering commitment" to Israel. It recognized "its right to act in self-defense to protect its citizens against acts of terrorism" and urged a ceasefire that would keep Hamas from firing rockets at Israel.

I don't remember any request from my senators from Washington or any public request from our Congress for a fair and honest feedback before Senator Reid opted to define my countrymen and myself as partisan to the neglect of our own humanity or conscience.

Nor have I been impressed by any such request regarding Gaza coming to my inbox from "change.gov"

Mr. Reid is speaking horrifically on behalf of a political ally and supporting indiscriminate murder at the same time. Why should I be surprised? This democratic senate has done nothing about indiscriminate murder from the day it became the majority party and moved into the driver's seat.

There isn't ever a time when national honor and core values dictate that we authorize this kind of thinking.

The House on Friday passed a resolution "recognizing Israel's right to defend itself against attacks from Gaza" by 390-5. The measure noted that the humanitarian situation in Gaza "is becoming more acute" but did not rebuke Israel.

And did those cowards in the House indicate that Israel's right to defend itself was limited to it's military or terrorist enemies? I guess not. Being alive and in Gaza is sufficient to be on Israel's indiscriminate enemies list.

The few opponents of the measures often include lawmakers of Arab-American descent or from Arab-American communities, and mavericks such as Democrat Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and Republican Ron Paul of Texas.

Kucinich, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination last year, charged that the United States was ignoring the current humanitarian crisis in Gaza while facilitating Israel's actions with arms deals worth billions.

Washington "sniffs at the slaughter of innocents in Gaza," he said. "U.S. tax dollars, U.S. jets and U.S. helicopters provided to Israel are enabling the slaughter in Gaza."

He's right. And these national politicians represent the highest American moral and spiritual values?

Some Americans "don't have a clue" about the Palestinians' history, James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, said.

That understated truth defines why there is no honor, integrity or even ethical sense in a nation that supposedly prides itself on public religiousness.

There is not any amount of political or patriotic sophistry that can be offered as a justification for turning away from indiscriminate killing. If there were, the pious national members of the Holy American Hypocritical Nationalist Churchianity would have long ago driven us straight toward ending our own indiscriminate killing elsewhere around the globe.

If in fact American politics ties the hands of those in our government who would do the right thing morally and ethically, then the shame is more our own than that of our elected purely political and lobby-vulnerable elected vultures.

I think that Mark Twain might agree today that empathy for Israel deteriorates into self-serving moral cowardice in America.