Where Electoral Revolutions Come From

Three years ago, electoral reform was the hot topic. We were angry, asking ourselves and those around us why we tolerated a system whose coalition intrigues could have put Ehud Olmert in the prime minister's office and Histadrut uber-union hack Amir Peretz in the defense ministry. For the first time, Israel lost a war with terrorists, solely because Olmert's government could not decide on how to let the lawyers command the troops. There were meetings among well-heeled organizations discussing the need for changing the electoral system. There were calls for reform from senior policy makers.

So, what happened since then? What hasn't happened? Global financial meltdowns. Iran's nuclear bomb drive. An Obama presidency quadrupling the U.S. debt to more than all the previous presidents combined, wreaking havoc with the economy. The discovery of huge gas reserves off of Israel's shores. But, seriously, when have we Israelis ever had a breather? It still doesn't change the fact that we need a truly representative, personally accountable, and constrained system of government.

In the United States, people have been organizing to make a real difference. The Tea Party, a true grassroots movement of regular Americans - many, many regular Americans - have realized that they, as individual citizens, have real power. They are not waiting for some political saviour to emerge to prevent the ruin of the United States of America. Barack Obama, perhaps the most personally charismatic politician in U.S. history, with the financial backing of billionaires, will likely lose his party their majorities in both Houses of Congress. He will lose them not only because of failed policies, but because American citizens are holding their elected officials personally responsible for failing to protect their interests. In short, individual American citizens will be firing many of their legislators in November because these legislators have forgotten that they were hired to do a job.

The American mainstream media, long dominated by the left, have mocked these American patriots, falsely portraying them as fringe kooks, religious extremists, and even racists. But the Tea Party's message of limited government, fiscal responsibility, and individual empowerment is difficult to besmirch in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Where is Israel's Tea Party movement? Okay, so Israel didn't have a Tea Party in its history like Americans had the Boston Tea Party, in which patriots dressed as native Americans dumped British tea into Boston harbor to protest taxation without representation. But we have many examples of individuals taking power in order to right wrongs. We've had revolts against other forms of tyranny in the past. Why not fight against the tyranny of a system that devalues the work and standing of the individual citizen? Why not fight against a system of government that celebrates mediocrity and collectivism?

America and Israel have an intertwined destiny. America's founding fathers knew this, and so did modern Israel's. While these two countries were young, they celebrated liberty and responsibility, integrity and truth. But, whereas America's founding fathers codified these principles into a constitution that framed the limits of governmental power - and guaranteed individual liberties, Israel took a collectivist left turn. In trying to satisfy narrow interests, Israeli politics ignored the value of the individual citizen, the individual politician, the individual Jew. In our generation, we are pupils of clear lessons on how individual initiatives changes the world, how applied principles of freedom and self-reliance at the individual level create a healthy society, how government's fail when they try to run marketplaces and individual lives.

In Israel, anyone with special needs acutely feels the limits of socialized medicine. True, we have "competing" sick funds, but the "single payer" to the hospitals is still the Ministry of Health. And so, we have lines for operations. And we have the "gray market" for health care, those private physicians and clinics which charge premiums outside of our sick fund framework. Government-run healthcare is wasteful and, ultimately, harmful to the same poor people it claims to protect.

Presently, Israel is in much better shape than the U.S. and Europe. In this regard, the world's reluctance to lend Israel money has worked to Israel's benefit. But, are most Israelis benefiting? Much of Israel's financial success has been driven by high-tech. High-tech benefits from immunity from the interference of the Histadrut super-union. In the Internet sector, start-up costs tend to be lower than in heavier industries. Other sectors that employ Israelis - agriculture, textiles, heavy industry - have not experienced the growth and profitability enjoyed by high-tech. These industries have shrunk. And let's not forget that Israelis are among the most taxed citizens in the "free world." To a large extent, our tax shekels end up in the "entitled" pockets of Haredim and others who manipulate the collectivist, proportional system of Israeli representation. Our tax shekels prop up a massive government bureaucracy filled with redundant ministries and budgets which exist largely to facilitate political favors. We can change this.

It's easy to be cynical; it takes courage to become inspired. Israelis should carefully observe how the Tea Party movement in America takes down a self-destructive, elitist, political machine. We should watch and learn.