All over the Western world Authoritarians are allying themselves with religious extremists: it started in Saudi Arabia, Iran, now Israel, the U.S., India, Hungary, and Russia. The extremists goals are not so dissimilar - remake society to fit their religious fantasies, outlawing homosexuality and gender transition, banning books and shutting down Universities. The effect of these extremists on society is to fill the jails full of dissidents, force the mass emigration of educated young adults and turn the country back to the middle ages. The effect in the United States and Israel is to divide and weaken those societies. That is the cost of fusing religion and politics.
I also think that Israel needs more deliberative and decentralised democracy as for every day relations. The question is if a radical center/ liberal-centrist coalition can make it happen? Since it is not enough with liberal values on institutional level and politicians often forget about the social/society level.
All over the Western world Authoritarians are allying themselves with religious extremists: it started in Saudi Arabia, Iran, now Israel, the U.S., India, Hungary, and Russia. The extremists goals are not so dissimilar - remake society to fit their religious fantasies, outlawing homosexuality and gender transition, banning books and shutting down Universities. The effect of these extremists on society is to fill the jails full of dissidents, force the mass emigration of educated young adults and turn the country back to the middle ages. The effect in the United States and Israel is to divide and weaken those societies. That is the cost of fusing religion and politics.
I also think that Israel needs more deliberative and decentralised democracy as for every day relations. The question is if a radical center/ liberal-centrist coalition can make it happen? Since it is not enough with liberal values on institutional level and politicians often forget about the social/society level.
Time for a brain drain of the young and non-religious.
Worked for Russia, didn't it?