The Gaza assault has changed the Middle East dynamic, and the time may now be right to unify such efforts. The Jewish state of Israel is a fading reality, and the dream of an independent Palestinian state is now a practical impossibility. In other words, there is no hope for a two state solution.

About a week ago, I spent the afternoon with a round table of Moslems (including Palestinians)  and by the end of our discussion, not only did they agree that a democratic single-state solution was the best possible outcome, the were genuinely enthusiastic about it. They also agreed that Islam needs to work within the context of a larger human effort towards peace, not the other way around.

What we need to be talking about now is presenting a viable alternative to an Islamist extremist and Zionist extremist state that can actually make both Muslims and Jews feel included, and get Christians and others around the globe excited and optimistic. Obviously the final settlement would have to be worked out between the Israelis and Palestinians, but as I (and many others) see it:

1) Essentially a single-state plan would grow from  the already existing state of Israel with the annexation of all occupied territories including Gaza, West Bank, and East Jerusalem (The Golan Heights is a “disputed territory” and may be part of different deal) but with 100% full, equal citizenship for all current residents of both Israel proper and the occupied territories, with equal rights and equal access to all government positions and services regardless of religion or ethnicity.

2) A comparable right of return for both the Jewish and Palestinian Diaspora.

3) The gradual integration of the IDF and other security services with the same terms of service for Jews and non-Jews.

4) the full recognition of this state by all nations

First and foremost this can be an end to the fighting.

This has the potential to be agreeable with Israelis because it means no territorial concessions and the state of Israel remains under essentially the same government framework. It will, however, no longer be an exclusively Jewish state, and Israel will probably need a constitution to secure such rights.

It has the potential to be agreeable with Palestinians because even though they would be a minority at first, in a matter of decades with or without any right of return they will have a majority. Everybody in the region knows this, and it’s better to get all the players operating under the same peaceful democratic framework sooner than to have what the Israelis refer to as the “demographic time-bomb” go off later while there is still fighting.

For the rest of the world, this is an opportunity for peace, and to really stabilize the region. This is realistic because it puts human right for all at the forefront of the struggle, and it takes the focus away from the two sides going back and forth endlessly. The closest historical parallel would be ending apartheid in South Africa, and a global popular consensus/mass movement will be easier to accomplish if this isn’t seen as “Jew vs.Muslim.”

Without the Israeli/Palestinian conflict to use as a cudgel, the Arab dictatorships will have to actually confront the deprivations of their people, and there will be no need for external powers to take sides. There will be no Islamist Palestinian state, and groups like Hamas (which at this point can’t be destroyed by military means) will either have to disarm, recognize the deal, and become just one political party of many, or forever be marginalized.

Obviously extremists like Hamas and Israeli hardliner parties like Shas and Likud will hate this deal, but this is a way out for everyone else, and an overwhelming global consensus can eventually keep the extremists in check.

This plan is already out there but so far major players have focused on the two-state solution, but after this assault there is the increasing realization that the two-state plan is no longer viable.

A window of opportunity is now open…

Posted by admin | Filed in Foreign Policy

A friend today asked me to take a look at an article at Salon.com.

My friend wrote: “The whole Clinton angel is not as interesting as the author’s view of the Mumbai attack. Why do Muslims burn embassies over a cartoon, but say nothing over this egregious attack on civilians?”

Personally, I’ve seen some pretty clear-cut condemnations of the Mumbai attack from the Islamic community. I know our mosque sent out a press release, for example, but I don’t know how much of that the press has actually picked up.

The question is what authority does anyone recognize that speaks for “moderate” Muslims? Who would we like to hear from? After all, moderates don’t often take to the streets and protest because, well, they’re moderates.

One thing I’ve found from experience over the past few years, this year in particular, is that the mainstream Muslim community is currently largely incapable of effective, organized, political action. I could probably write a book on the reasons why, and since I’m really bored at work right now, maybe I will!

The Islamic world is a collection of decentralized, diverse societies with a strong underlying authority driven culture, and in modern democratic conditions, a common breakdown occurs. There are all these diverse Muslim egos and viewpoints struggling to assert themselves, and the majority generally recognizes that traditions have to adapt to modern society, but unless someone establishes themselves as the “Islamic” authority on the subject, forward momentum is extremely slow.

But then of course, if you give someone the Islamic authority, you haven’t really found a democratic solution. So, you just have to offer what advise you can, let the traditional minded Muslims fight amongst themselves for a while, get discouraged and mutter some verses from the Qur’an, until they tire themselves out. Eventually collective frustration can lead to improvements with a little (mostly indirect) guidance here and there.

It’s a frustratingly slow process, but patience is the only way to go, because the moment you try to inject direct authority, you either have to express that in Islamic terms, which drags you back to square one. Or, you can try to establish an outside authority which just puts you in direct opposition to the core Islamic identity of the culture, and then you have a real fight on your hands! (Just ask any former colonialist…)

Meanwhile, conservative extremist take advantage of the moderate’s power vacuum, claim religious authority for themselves against the opposition, and take hideous, misguided actions in the name of Islam, and again, you’re back at square one.

In the Islamic world, all authority is ultimately derived from God. That’s just the way it is. If you try to change this, again, you are defying the central principles that defines the society and culture. No matter how good a noble the institutions you try to impose are, without the authority of God, there is no Islam and no Muslims. You can’t demand that people give up their core identity and not expect a fight.

However, secular worldly authority can exist within an Islamic framework, and historically it often has. There just has to be a system of checks and balances on religious authority over government and human rights that is established WITHIN the broadly interpretive context of Islam.

This takes time, and democratic solutions only work when they comes from the people. You can help guide the process, but it can’t be imposed. Some resistance to change is always normal, but you have to keep everything in the larger perspective and not inflame the source of rebellion.

As long as we continue to frame the problem of Islamist terrorism in religious terms, the Al-Qaeda types win because we are pitting the potential secular, democratic, political institutions that need to gradually emerge WITHIN the culture against the deeply ingrained tradition of the very authority of Islam itself.

That’s why the smart thing to do is recognize that the terrorists aren’t religious, they’re political. They’re not warriors, jihadists, or martyrs, they’re just criminals. If, on the other hand, we emphasize the Islamic angle, and demand that there be a strong, authoritative, Islamic reaction against them, we’re playing the terrorist’s game, and that is a game that ultimately no one can win.

Posted by admin | Filed in Foreign Policy, Islam

Th election is over. Some things have changed, other haven’t.

We have a new President-Elect President, soon-to-be President Obama. (I like saying that!)

Our incumbent, Congressman Connie Mack IV, has been rel-elected for another term. Yesterday, I sent him a congratulations message.  We are no longer competing candidates, and he has my full support as a constituent of this district.

Whatever services I can offer in helping to serve the people of this nation and this district are at the disposal of both our Republican Congressman and our new Democratic President, should they be needed.

In the meantime, now the real work begins.

This candidacy was always understood in the context of a larger media project about what we can all do to improve the process of elections and government in this country. The election was only the first step, and by the numbers, our impact may seem small, but all the work everyone did to help document this race will pay off as we create a documentary to establish not only the definitive account of this race, but also some additional insight into how the political machine in this country really works.

Within the next few months, we’ll be sitting down for a number of on-camera interviews with some of the candidates in the local races and around the country. We will continue to post videos of interesting events, and to keep you informed of our progress here now that this blog is once again just plain old Crazy for Congress.

Once again, I want to thank everyone for all of your support. Democracy is a process, not an election day result. As citizens, we are all still as much of that process on the day after an election as we were the day before, regardless of who’s in office.

Remember, this isn’t the end, this is really just the beginning…

Posted by admin | Filed in docmentary

(I’m going to try to make regular updates today, particularly after the polls close as we watch the results.)

11:15 AM:  Just got back from voting.  Now, if you havent voted yet, what are you doing sitting around watching my blog? Get out and VOTE!

05:50 PM: It’s almost time for the polls to start closing in some parts of the country (Here, they close at 7:00 PM), and we’ll be heading over to McGregor Food and Spirits soon to watch the results…

11:15PM:Once again, we had some live-link problems, and I apologize for not updating live. CNN has called the race.

11:55PM: Mack wins third term to U.S. House

Posted by admin | Filed in Election

Tomorrow is the big day!

I just want to say thank you to everyone who has worked so hard and supported this campaign, and also thank all the people of this district who have gotten and involved themselves in the election by either coming out to the various events or voting early.

And if you haven’t done so yet, then I urge to go vote tomorrow and Elect Jeff George for Congress!

Oh,  and after the poles close tomorrow, we’ll be having a little get-together at McGregor Food and Spirits starting around 7:00 PM, and everyone is invited to stop by.

Posted by admin | Filed in Domestic Issues, Election, SW Florida

Not sure if this video is a trick or treat, but it was made for the Middle East Forum at FGCU this past Wednesday. (Raw footage of that event is on the way…)

It shows the differences in our positions on Iran policy between the three of the four candidates in this race that bothered to show up for the debates and forums. It was shot at the M.O.A.A. forum. 

Be sure to check out the latest Article, Congress candidates tackle issues at forum, from the Naples Daily News which seems to be the only media outlet actually following this race.

Also, the raw footage from the Tiger Bay Club Forum covered in the article starts here.

Posted by admin | Filed in Foreign Policy

This was shot on this past rainy Saturday afternoon at the candidate forum hosted by the Haiti-American Community of Lehigh Acres, Fla. (Raw footage).

Also, be sure to check out today’s Naples Daily News article Election 2008: Three seek to take Congressional seat from Connie Mack. You can also check out the raw footage from that interview here.

Posted by admin | Filed in Election

My response to the Project Vote Smart Political Courage Test is now up. Not surprisingly, I was the only candidate in this race that did not “refuse to provide any responses to citizens on the issues.”

I’ve tried to answer every candidate questionnaire that’s been sent to me, and even though I probably missed a few, I added the links to other Issue Surveys on the bottom of the Platform Page, so you can get a better idea of where I stand.

This past week, plenty of raw video footage of the candidate forums went up on Google as well. 

Thursday, the Lee County League of Women Voters hosted a Candidate Forum in Fort Myers. You can Check out the raw video here, and also read  Mack is no-show in final debate before Nov. 4

Tuesday: the Cape Coral Chamber of Commerce held their Candidate Forum, and the raw video starts here.

Monday: there was a Congressional candidate forum at the Shell Point Retirement Community. The raw video starts here.

Saturday: I attended a debate on the movie Obsession at USF, and the raw footage of the actual forum starts here, and there’s also video of an interesting pre-event scuffle here.

Finally, the North Fort Myers Neighbor ran a nice article on last weeks forum there: 20 Candidates turn out for forum.

Posted by admin | Filed in Election

When people have asked me in the past about my pick for the presidential race, I’ve stated that “officially”, because I am running with no party affiliation, I wanted to stay out of that fray, and focus on this congressional race. “Unofficially,” I’ve made no secret here on my blog and elsewhere about my increasing dissatisfaction with Senator McCain’s platform and his choice of Governor Palin as his running-mate.

In the past week, events on my own campaign trail and elsewhere have made it clear to me that this is no longer a tenable position.

So, it’s official: I am backing Senator Barack Obama to be the next president of the United States of America.

While I still have some serious reservations about the ability of the national leadership of the Democratic party to chart a course away from partisan bickering, and the corrupt system of campaign financing and special interest money that currently plagues both parties in Washington, I believe Senator Obama is the best hope we have now for a President who can reverse the disastrous economic policies that continue to plunge this nation into crisis, resolve the war on terror, and restore America’s international standing around the world.

Another important factor that made me realize that it was time to clearly back Senator Obama was the fact that Robert Neeld, the current Democratic contender, has at least twice refused to speak up for the merits of his own party’s nominee.

First on Oct. 11th at a Forum held by the Military Officer Association of America. (You can check out the unedited video here at around the 16:00 min mark.)  And again, on Oct. 15th, at the forum of the Southwest Cape Coral Neighborhood Association. (Video here at around the 11:40 min. point.)

The first time I was taken aback by Mr. Neeld’s lack of support for Obama, the second time I called him out because it is exactly the sort of hedging and triangulation that makes me leery of the Democratic leadership in the first place.

I realize supporting Senator Obama may not be the popular choice here in this district, and I want to assure everyone that this doesn’t at all mean that I’m giving up on my commitment to be a strong, independent voice for this district in congress. 

I have made it a point to say throughout this campaign that voting your conscience is never a wasted vote, and at this point I would be failing my own conscience if I did not speak out as a candidate for my own choice as well.

Regardless of who our next president is, he will need the support of a transparent and accountable congress that is willing to restore the constitutional system of checks and balances. As your congressman, my first commitment will always be to the people of this nation and to the American Constitution, not to any political party or whatever individual happens to hold executive office at the moment.

Posted by admin | Filed in Election

I had the opportunity to make my case on a couple of very different radio markets this week:

This morning I was interviewed by Mandy Connell  on WINK 1270 Daybreak.

On Tuesday, three of the four congressional candiditaes in this race (no Connie Mack as usual) were present at WGCU (NPR) for Gulf Coast Live. Be sure to check out the Aftershow too.

And of course, in addition to the audio links above, we have the raw video footage of me in my office during the phone interview with Mandy here. (And, you can hear my portion of the beginning of the interview that seems to have been inadvertently clipped from WINK’s podcast.) 

We also have the raw footage of our in the booth video coverage from the WGCU show starting here.

Oh, and be sure to check out the FOX4 video we shot last week as it’s airing now here.

Posted by admin | Filed in Election