Ross: ‘This absurdity of majorities being outnumbered is not just a problem in the Middle East’
Oct 17, 2023, 9:00 AM | Updated: Oct 10, 2024, 12:02 pm
A man cries because his home was bombed during Israeli raids in the southern Gaza Strip on October 16, 2023 in Khan Yunis, Gaza. Gazans are evacuating to the south following warnings to do so from the Israeli government, ahead of an expected Israeli ground offensive. Israel has sealed off Gaza and launched sustained retaliatory air strikes, which have killed at least 2,500 people with more than 400,000 displaced, after a large-scale attack by Hamas. (Photo by Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images)
(Photo by Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images)
When the majority is outnumbered.
That sounds absurd –– that a majority could be outnumbered.
And yet – look at the evidence.
A poll among Gaza residents last July by the Washington Institute showed 62% thought that Hamas should ABIDE by its ceasefire with Israel.
They didn’t want last week’s attack.
An even LARGER majority – 70%– wanted Hamas REMOVED from Gaza and replaced by the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank.
A majority has supported THAT idea since polling began in 2014.
More Dave Ross: What will the fighting in Gaza actually achieve?
This would explain why Hamas stopped holding elections after 2006.
And I think it also explains why President Biden is going to Israel. Not just as a public demonstration of support, but to figure out a way to eliminate Hamas WITHOUT alienating a Palestinian population which probably would have voted Hamas OUT if it had been allowed to.
What worries me is that this absurdity of majorities being outnumbered is not just a problem in the Middle East. It’s a feature of our own Presidential election process.
And it’s paralyzing our House of Representatives: where party loyalties are preventing a bi-partisan majority of moderates from compromising on a Speaker so they can all get back to work.
Every democratic republic at some point has to be able to cull out the crazies so that the majority can move on. That’s what elections are supposed to do. Otherwise, the agenda is set by the most ruthless among us. Even though we outnumber them.
Listen to Dave Ross on Seattle’s Morning News – weekday mornings from 5-9 a.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3.
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