Liberalism has ideas—but does it have the will to impose them on people?

In recent years, the Netanyahu government roar The long-standing alliance of liberalism, The New Republic The Democratic Party and Israel’s anti-war stance has been pacified by ostentatious courting of the Republican Party and its allies: white American fundamentalist Christians, anti-immigrant activists, and groups opposed to racial and gender minorities. The tragic events of the past few months, a series of interconnected and seemingly unsolvable terrorist attacks, genocidal bombings, and settler aggression, have divided the liberal camp—that is, the Democratic Party. Some Jewish Democratic politicians have condemned Israel for waging war, while others continue to offer unconditional support.

Thinking—and talking—about the intertwined conflicts between the Holocaust, nationalism, religion, government, Zionism, settlers, and dual citizenship seems to be a problem too difficult and complex for 21st-century American liberalism to address. What can liberals do? The New Republic What we can do is continue to use their high education and journalistic prestige to clarify issues, even partisan conflicts, and propose remedies.

Thinking about how to solve the Israel/Hamas/Palestine problem is really, really hard. On the other hand, the greatest illiberal challenge of our time, Trumpism-Republican authoritarianism, is not hard at all. The remedies for law, voting, and political policy are simple. All we need to do is add the word “universal” to the suffrage clause of Theodore Roosevelt’s Progressive Party’s 1912 platform and rally support. As early as 1912, the need for universal health coverage was obvious. In 2024, however, when the need is even more obvious, liberalism knows what needs to be done. American partisan politics over Israel/Hamas/Palestine are extremely difficult, but if liberalism remains true to its long-standing values—equal suffrage, government that works in the interests of “the people,” government that works for “social and industrial justice” since 1912—it can even come up with a solution to this painful crisis.