About FCD

Welcome..

We cordially invite you to the Library of The Foundation Blog for Constitutional Democracy…

Here you will find, among other subjects,

• The most comprehensive analysis of Israel’s political and judicial institutions—their destructive flaws and how they may be remedied;

• The only library that interfaces Torah, Science, and Political Philosophy;

• The Machiavellian background of the Oslo or Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles;

• A survey of Israel’s political leaders, revealing the unconscious foundations of their political pronouncements and policies;

• A democratic and Jewish solution to Israel’s Arab demographic problem as well as to the Arab Palestinian problem;

• An in-depth analysis of the clash of civilizations between Islam and the West;

• A “politically incorrect” analysis of the tension between Judaism and Democracy;

• The first, systematic formulation of what constitutes Jewish Statesmanship;

• An unprecedented Jewish foreign policy as well as a Jewish method of diplomacy;

• A Constitution for the State of Israel based on Jewish principles and values.

Our website is a library of policy papers and shorter articles that provide lucid ideas and institutional proposals for reconstructing the State of Israel—the necessary task for future statesmen.

Please feel free to use these resources for your own self-knowledge, for research, and to share with others. We have a lot to offer and you can take advantage of it. Share the word about The Foundation for Constitutional Democracy (FCD), and this website, foundation1.org with others, and please also consider becoming a member, and a free subscriber to our email list as well.

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The Foundation for Constitutional Democracy, is an American-Israel non-profit and tax-exempt exempt corporation unaffiliated with any political party. The primary purpose of the Foundation is to promote the development of democratic institutions in a region of the world dominated by Arab-Islamic autocracies. The one country amenable to constitutional democracy is Israel.

Unfortunately, Israel does not have a Constitution, and its existing political system has fundamental flaws. Its parliament is based on fixed party lists, not on district or constituency elections. Knesset Members (MKs) therefore owe their position, power and perks not to the voters but to the party leaders. In fact, of 75 countries having democratic elections for the lower (or only) branch of the legislature, Israel is the only one that does not have district elections.

The consequences are profound. Since MKs must kowtow to their party leaders who (may) head cabinet ministries, they cannot exercise the vital functions of administrative oversight. Moreover, since the cabinet consists of MKs whose position does not depend on constituency elections, the Government can ignore public opinion with impunity, even on issues concerning the borders and capital of the state. Lacking a constitution, the rule of law is Israel hardly exists.

Turning to political-economy: Israel’s government owns, directly or indirectly, practically all of the country’s resources and assets. Thus, despite its democratic veneer––universal suffrage and periodic elections––such is the concentration of political-economic power in Israel that it exemplifies less a democracy than a dysfunctional oligarchy. Israel needs a democratic constitution based on Jewish values.

The Foundation focuses on Israel because, in the Jewish heritage, Israel possesses (unlike Islam), the basic principles of Constitutional Democracy. In fact, the Foundation has designed a Constitution with institutional checks and balances comparable to those of various democratic republics. The Foundation proposes multi-district elections to strengthen the Knesset, a presidential system to replace Israel’s divisive system of multi-party cabinet government and basic reform of Israel’s Supreme Court, which has become a super-legislature whose decisions often violate the Jewish heritage and even thwart Israel’s struggle against arab terrorism.

Strange as it may seem, the American Constitution—whose biblical roots are known to historians—is far more consistent with the Torah than Israel’s present form of government. Ceremonial laws aside, the Torah is itself a Written Constitution with institutional checks and balances. Indeed, its extensive protection of individual rights is the source of the American Bill of Rights.

The Foundation’s constitution appeals to Israelis across the political spectrum. Its implementation would influence Islamic modernists seeking to introduce a modicum of democracy into Arab regimes. A version of this constitution was the topic of a panel discussion at the August 1997 American Political Science Association conference in Washington D.C. The text has been published in Hebrew by Israel’s premier journal Nativ: A Journal of Politics and the Arts. A Russian translation has been used for seminars in the Foundation’s spacious Jerusalem center attended by immigrants from Russia.

The Yamin Israel party has adopted the Foundation’s draft Constitution. The Foundation also provides policy papers and political analyses for Knesset Members, organizations, and individuals concerned about Israel and the Middle East. We are also host links to many Yamin party files here on this site. For more information you can always conatct foundation1.org.

Board of Directors
Prof. Paul Eidelberg, Co-Founder and President, Israel
Dr. Mark I. Rozen (z’’l), Co-Founder
Matthew S. Finberg, Executive Vice-President, Israel
Alan Silverstein, Chairman, USA
Eleonora Shifrin, Executive Director, Israel
Keren Horowitz, Executive Director, USA
Sharen E. Spratt, Executive Director, International
Prof. Edward Alexander, USA
Tom Carew, Dublin, Ireland
Helen Freedman, USA
Rachel Neuwirth, USA

Legal Advisor: David Heimowitz, Israel

Annual membership fee: $50.00. Members receive the Foundation’s Journal of Jewish Statesmanship, and Foundation newsletters. Please consider joining and helping spread awareness of the Foundation’s pivotal ideas and directives.