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16 Shevat 5765 - January 26, 2005 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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Opinion & Comment
An Inauspicious Beginning

Last week George W. Bush was inaugurated as President of the United States. His 20 minute speech was short enough so that it was heard very well around the world.

It was an occasion that was heavy with American ceremony, and thus demanded a speech with grand ideas. True to the form that helped him win the election, Mr. Bush spoke about quite a bit about freedom which is, according to him, "the permanent hope of mankind, the hunger in dark places, the longing of the soul."

But Bush did not only describe his ideals, he promised — or threatened, depending on your perspective — to act on them. "It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world."

He did not mention the monumental headache that he has in Iraq. On the contrary, he gave the definite impression that he was prepared to take other action where tyranny is a problem. His new Secretary of State listed six "outposts of tyranny," including Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Myanmar, Zimbabwe and Belarus. The New York Times said that a "close colleague" of Ms. Rice said that she "was trying to be illustrative, not comprehensive." That is, there are more tyrannical problems in the world.

Though Bush started his speech saying that G-d has blessed America, he went on to talk as if he knew how to run the world, all by himself. He projected a feeling of immense confidence and that he, and/or America, enjoys enormous, virtually unstoppable, power.

We wish President Bush and the American people all the best. But we must confess that the speech left us with foreboding for the future.

To us, the first and foremost lesson that belief in G-d teaches man is humility. Though America's power is truly awesome, there are very important higher powers.

There is the raw physical power that was so evident recently in the tsunami that suddenly, without any forewarning and preparation, unleashed a display of power that dwarfs anything that man can do. There is also the more subtle power of G-d to shape history and arrange things through his Providence to frustrate the plans of the most powerful human beings, and to drive mankind to the goals that He has set.

Orlando Patterson, a professor at Harvard, has explained that there are two modern meanings to the word "freedom." One is freedom in a social and political sense: civil liberties, universal political participation, and social justice.

The other sense of freedom is personal — "privatized" is Professor Patterson's term. It means independence and autonomy, or in other words, simply "doing what one wants and getting one's way."

The first refers to achieving goals that are larger than any individual. It means the fulfillment of true moral goals in the social and political spheres.

The second is totally dependent on who is doing the wanting. For most Americans today, what they want is nothing more than simple physical enjoyment, and getting their way just means that they have access to the particular pleasures that they prefer.

Is this the freedom that George Bush champions? This is not ideals and values but precisely the opposite.

George Bush has grandiose plans for America and for the world. However if he is blinded by hubris, we fear for him.

There is a Higher Power Who sees and intervenes, when things do not go as He wants. His goals are the only important goals and His will prevails.


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