Professor Jacobson in Israel has a chance to explain the Tea Party is by no means 'isolationist'

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7/23/13, "Trying to explain the Tea Party in Israel," Legal Insurrection, William A. Jacobson

"I also had an interesting conversation about how the Tea Party is perceived in Israel with someone in Israeli government many of you would recognize (but who has to remain anonymous by agreement).  I described LI’s readership as “conservative/Tea Party, mostly non-Jewish, very pro-Israel.”

The concern expressed by this person was that the Tea Party movement represented an isolationist movement bent on retrenching from engagement in the world. The person commented that American withdrawal leaves a vacuum that will be filled by Iran, Hezbollah, and other bad actors.

I explained my view that such a perception confuses and conflates the Ron Paul approach with the Tea Party movement. The Tea Party movement, I explained, was not isolationist, it simply was not a movement focused on foreign policy — which is a big difference from an active desire to withdraw from the world.

I further explained that there was no better friend of Israel than Tea Party supporters, and that the goal of limited government does not translate as easily into foreign affairs. It’s not so much that the Tea Party movement is against foreign assistance, it’s that we’re against foreign assistance to people who don’t like us and are not our friends.  By analogy, seeking to curtail wasteful spending, pork projects and the entitlement state does not mean we support no government.

The person acknowledged that the perception of the Tea Party movement in Israel may be a result of how some people want the Tea Party to be perceived, and pointed to Ted Cruz’s visit to Israel and strong support of Israel as an example of the point I was trying to make.

Sound accurate to you?

This didn’t really surprise me.  If a foreign official relies on American mainstream media for news about American politics, that foreign official will receive a biased and inaccurate portrayal of the Tea Party movement.

If I changed the perception of one person in a position of influence, it was worth the trip."


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