America’s leftists have gone from a reverence for Europe’s socialist institutions to a subtle but complete nullification of the United States Constitution and American law.
Leftists always adored Europe’s soft socialism. They wanted socialized medicine, practically free pharmaceutical drugs, six weeks of paid vacation a year, one year of parental leave for both parents (not that leftists actually want people to have children), subsidized housing, etc.
Pointing out that all of this came about because of American taxpayers who funded building Europe back up after WWII, who absorbed all of Europe’s defense costs, and who pay the costs of all the research and advertising behind the drugs sold at a discount to European socialized systems fell on deaf ears. Europe was the way.
Of course, lately, Europe hasn’t been the way. Its socialized medicine systems have fallen on hard times, with euthanasia often seen as the ultimate cost savings. Europeans aren’t having children, so parental leave is kind of a moot point. And of course, the systems are collapsing under the weight of unlimited immigration from Muslim countries—often a man, his multiple wives, and their many children—none of whom have paid into the system but all of whom get the benefits, including the subsidized housing, healthcare, education, etc.
With Europe increasingly less of a stellar example and more of a terrible lesson, Democrats have shifted to something new: International law.
The seeds of this have been there for a long time. All of you must remember in 2012, when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who had sworn an oath to defend the Constitution, while in Egypt announced that she really didn’t like the pithy, government-limiting American Constitution. Given the choice, she said, she’d prefer the South African constitution, with its long preamble, 14 chapters, 244 sections (32 of which purport to be a “Bill of Rights”), 8 schedules, and 16 amendments. Thus, she explained,
“I would not look to the U.S. Constitution, if I were drafting a Constitution in the year 2012. I might look at the Constitution of South Africa,” says Ginsburg, whom President Clinton nominated to the court in 1993. “That was a deliberate attempt to have a fundamental instrument of government that embraced basic human rights, had an independent judiciary. … It really is, I think, a great piece of work that was done. Much more recent than the U.S. Constitution.”
Even though the American Constitution advances values bestowing rights on all American citizens, for Ginsburg, it was a document fatally tainted by the Founders’ bad views about women, blacks, and Native Americans. The whole Constitution is the fruit of the poisonous Founders’ tree.
Well, if a Supreme Court justice says the Constitution is bad, you can’t be surprised to fast-forward 13 years and discover Democrat party politicians saying that international law overrides American law. Zohran Mamdani is especially fond of international law if it means destroying Israel.
To that end, he insisted before his election that, because the International Criminal Court has put out a warrant for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he would arrest Netanyahu if the latter came to New York City:
“This is something that I intend to fulfill,” Mamdani remarked, reiterating a pledge he had made earlier in the mayoral race, as the newspaper put it. “It is my desire to ensure that this be a city that stands up for international law.”
“Being a city of international law means looking to uphold international law,” Mamdani said. “And that means upholding the warrants from the International Criminal Court, whether they’re for Benjamin Netanyahu or Vladimir Putin.”
Second, it is unlawful for an American citizen to imprison, threaten, or intimidate (among other things) a foreign official or head of state. 18 U.S.C. § 112. The penalty can be up to 10 years in prison or more if weapons are used (as would be the case if Mamdani authorized armed police to detain Bibi).
Mamdani either does not care. But it doesn’t stop there.
Last week, a huge, intimidating, anti-Israel crowd gathered around the Park East Synagogue to protest the fact that it was holding an event for Nefesh B’nefesh, an organization that helps Jews immigrate to Israel. The protest was almost an illegal activity under federal law, and Harmeet Dhillon has promised to investigate and prosecute:
Mamdani’s response was interesting. First, he issued a bland statement saying it wasn’t really a good thing to surround some unnamed type of “House of Worship” and threaten people:
“The Mayor-elect has discouraged the language used at last night’s protest and will continue to do so,” Mamdani spokesperson Dora Pekec said Thursday. “He believes every New Yorker should be free to enter a house of worship without intimidation…”
Way to keep it bland, Mr. Mayor-elect.
Mamdani didn’t stop there, though. He added this strange statement: “…these sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law.” In Mamdani-World, Jews immigrating to Israel is “a violation of international law.”
First, no, it isn’t (at least, not yet). Even if the world says that the settlements in Judea and Samaria, the ancient heart of Israel, are “illegal,” immigrating to Israel is not a violation of any international law.
Second, and more importantly, international law doesn’t apply in New York or anywhere in America. What happened inside the synagogue was perfectly legal and unobjectionable…in America.
Mamdani, though, isn’t the only Democrat turning to international law when American law fails to help his objectives. Mayor Brandon Johnson, the truly execrable Chicago mayor, has the same attitude. He believes that, when the President of the United States enforces American immigration law in an American city, that, too, is a violation of “international law.”
What these ardent leftists are saying isn’t accidental, and it’s not ignorant. They hate America, and they desperately want to do away with the Constitution that limits the government while extending maximum liberty to the American people—something international law definitely doesn’t do.
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