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Articles by Aaron Bondar
The Living Voice of the Law: Debates over Common Good Constitutionalism
REVIEW ESSAY Common Good Constitutionalism by Adrian Vermeule Polity, 2022, 270 pages The Federalist Society may be the one legacy institution that both old‑line conservatives and the New Right admire. And Fed Soc bears none of the unsightly blemishes of other conservative organizations, staffed as they are with incompetents, weirdos, and malcontents.
A Man's Years Are Three-Score And Ten
A man’s years are three score and ten. By way of strength, we might eek out another score. When my father was on a ventilator in a hospital bed, I prayed that God give him that strength. Alone in my room I would sit at the foot of my bed and say ma’ariv, the evening prayer, enunciating every word, feeling that my father’s life depended on the certainty of my elocution, that any stumble would lead to the sapping of that strength; I felt somewhat silly.
Technology, Growth and Progress: Introduction/Other Dystopias
We have been told we live in an era of staggering progress and growth. Our era is one of “dizzying” change, “dazzling” progress; an era of acceleration and confusion. It is getting harder and harder for me to believe this story. In our politics and our culture, in the economic indicators and felt experience, it is becoming clear that we are in a period of sclerosis and stagnation; of arthritic institutions and status quo bias; of anesthetizing comforts and virtual distractions.
Politicians should stop making excuses for their defeats
Columns Accusing opponents of conspiracies is an ineffective political tactic By Aaron Bondar - April 7, 2019 Last month, for a few brief moments, the American political commentariat was engaged in debate and discussion around the comments made by freshman Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. In response to a tweet by The Intercept reporter Glenn Greenwald, Omar had suggested that American politicians supported Israel because they were being paid to toe that line — it’s “all about the Benjamins,” she wrote.
We must recognize the plight of the Yazidis
Columns Remembrance is an integral part of supporting survivors of violence By Aaron Bondar - April 3, 2019 Last week, American-backed forces liberated the town of Baghouz in Syria. In so doing, they uprooted the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) from the last vestiges of its territory in Syria. The physical state that ISIS established has been destroyed after years of brutal war.
Embracing America’s tension between unity and diversity
Columns The country was founded with these values at its core By Aaron Bondar - January 27, 2019 A few months ago, I was speaking with a friend of mine from England. She wanted to eventually come here to the United States to live and work. When I asked her why that was, she replied, “British politics are so messed up.” Both of us being Jewish, I can imagine that her antipathy toward Britain’s politics had as much to do with the fierce debates over Brexit as it did Jeremy Corbyn’s ominous rise.
Growing Old in America
Current Issue In December of last year, my grandmother, a survivor of Auschwitz, one of the last of her generation, died in her bedroom at the age of 97. Her decline came swiftly — one day she was ambulatory, fragile and aged, but still fierce and independent; the next, she was partially paralyzed and confined to a bed. Unlike the majority of Americans, I grew up in a multigenerational household.
There are many faces of anti-Semitism
On April 4, 2017, in Paris, Kobili Traore broke into the apartment of Lucette Attal-Halimi, known by her Hebrew name, Sarah Halimi, a 65-year-old Jewish woman. Yelling in Arabic, he beat her repeatedly, calling her the “devil” and shouting “Allahu akbar.” When he was done, he threw her from the window to the pavement below. She was dead before the police arrived.
Acts of kindness often stay with recipients
Even in our darkest moments, it is possible to recognize our shared humanity In 1944, my grandmother was sent to a death camp in the Polish countryside. The name of that camp, Auschwitz, has now been branded into our collective memory as the physical and ethereal embodiment of human evil. Auschwitz is no longer just a place, but a representation of the human urge to discover how far down the abyss evil really goes.
Though not flawless, John McCain was a hero to many
The people we deem 'heroes' are not perfect, but they are dedicated to admirable values On Aug. 25, Senator John Sidney McCain lost his battle with cancer. In his last book before his death, “The Restless Wave,” McCain quotes his hero, Robert Jordan, from his favorite novel — and one of mine — “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by Ernest Hemingway. “The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for and I hate very much to leave it,” says Robert in the novel’s closing passages.
Is Donald Trump’s Nationalism For Real?
Since Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential election, many of the best arguments for Trumpian governance have focused on the president’s pet issues, while avoiding direct discussion of the man himself. The more high-minded pieces of this genre hone in on what Trump “represents” or “symbolizes”—and thereby sidestep the thorny questions of character and competence.
Be bold and take advantage of opportunities
Every year, Pipe Dream — the illustrious publication you hold in your hands — publishes a summer issue, invariably read by the incoming freshman class. If you’re reading this now, you’re probably one of those freshmen. You’re likely surrounded by strange and new faces, unfamiliar surroundings and, knowing Binghamton University, a few too many deer. But it’s OK — you’re reading Pipe Dream, which is a good first step to navigating this school.
Remembering the Holocaust on Yom HaShoah
In May 2014, I visited Poland to see the death camps on a trip that felt more like a pilgrimage. I wanted to see the places where my grandmother was imprisoned and starved, her family murdered and mutilated. Before I saw the quiet barracks of Auschwitz, however, I would visit Majdanek, a death camp in Lublin, Poland. At the top of a hill, on the far side of the camp, is a large dome, the monument to its victims. The monument is a mausoleum. It is quite enormous.
Is it right for people to abort fetuses with Down syndrome?
Only one or two babies with the chromosomal disorder are born in Iceland each year Last year, a headline by CBS News declared that in Iceland, “Down syndrome is disappearing.” You would be forgiven if, upon reading the headline, you assumed that Icelandic doctors had discovered a cure for the chromosomal disorder. Your assumptions would be wrong.
Trump Is Right: Jerusalem Is Israel’s Capital - But It Is A Divided One.
Jerusalem is the capital of the state of Israel. Israelis know this; Palestinians know it. Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and the Arab world know it. And yet an illusion is maintained, for the sake of diplomatic correctness, that Jerusalem is not yet the capital of the Jewish state, though it is obvious that it is.
Challenging our deeply held beliefs
In order to continue the process of bettering yourself, you must reflect on your values It’s almost a cliche at this point to talk about how divided our country has become. Equally cliched is the subsequent, impassioned plea for something — sanity, reason, unity — anything to get us back to a place where the national conversation doesn’t feel like a shouting match just before a fistfight.
Reconnecting with the real world
We should move away from abstraction and toward reality for a more meaningful life When was the last time you built something? I don’t mean the hammer-and-nail kind of building, but it could be that too — when was the last time you made something with your hands, took what was at first only the stirrings of imagination in your mind’s eye and then made it real in the world? When was the last time you built anything — a table from gathered wood, a fire to keep you warm, a story upon a blank page?
Denoucing political violence
Chaos and violence only embolden groups that aim to spread hatred Over the past few years, our country has plunged into a debate about free speech and tolerance. This isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last. Our country — dedicated in principle to freedom of speech and a tolerant political culture — has grappled with the meaning of both of these ideas since its inception.
Israel's next army chief 'would only strike Iran as last resort'
Maj. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, named Friday night as the next IDF chief of the General Staff, firmly opposes Israeli military intervention to thwart Iran’s nuclear program unless Iran poses an immediate existential threat to Israel, an Israeli television report said. Eizenkot, the current deputy chief, holds to the view that Israel should not strike at Iran “unless the sword is at our throat,” Channel 10 reported.
Liberman 'peace plan' would pay Arabs to leave Israel
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman published his own proposed peace plan Friday in which he calls for funding the emigration of Arab citizens of Israel.
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