“Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.” –Marcus Aurelius
October 7 awakened me; it changed my relationship with Israel, and this country of my ancestors became dear to me. But as importantly, it opened my eyes to the decaying of the country that I love, that has been my home for 32 years — the US.
The US is becoming a laughingstock of the world, deservedly so. We are still the strongest democracy in the world. People still want to move here, but we are resting on the laurels of our past glory, which was achieved by elevating meritocracy and excellence. Our successes and our grocery stores full of food have gone to our heads and are turning us into a society focused only on pleasant outcomes, independent of how much work we put in.
We are a society that is losing its pragmatism. We used to be a country of practical, innovative problem solvers, and now we are turning into a country of useful idiots, where a tiny woke minority leads us into self-immolation.
Israel will not exist 50 years from now without a strong US. I have to fight for the US – it’s a two-for-the-price-of-one type of deal: A strong United States that supports Israel is mandatory for Israel to survive.
I learned an important lesson from longtime Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman Charlie Munger, who recently passed away. I have been attending the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting since 2008. At these shareholder meetings, Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger would sit on stage in a giant sports arena and answer questions from shareholders for five hours. Buffett would usually have the first chance to answer the question, and then he would direct it to Munger.
If the question was controversial, Buffett would go into politician mode and give a non-answer answer. Munger would say what he really thought and didn’t care if his answer upset someone who disagreed with it. Buffett was shackled by the fear of public opinion, while Munger was free.
Munger said, “I think that one should recognize reality even when one doesn’t like it; indeed, especially when one doesn’t like it.” And thus, he told the truth because it mattered more than someone’s hurt feelings or criticism of him.
Buffett was afraid, Munger was not.
The most important thing is that we should stop being afraid. This is how the loud minority gained their power. The silent majority — that’s most of us — is afraid to speak up and is thus being accused of bigotry or racism. We are afraid of being canceled, and in the process, we stay quiet while the woke minority is killing our country.
Fighting against antisemitism and the woke cancer is one and the same fight, as we are fighting the same enemy.
I cannot tell you how much I did not want to write this essay. But I had to. I could not write anything else until I darkened these pages with my thoughts. I realized I can no longer have tunnel vision. As my son Jonah reminded me, with greater power comes greater responsibility.
Yes, this is the time to fight. Each of us has a different role in this fight, and we all have different strengths. Israelis are fighting Hamas. Some of my friends have gone to Israel and joined that fight, lending a hand wherever it’s needed (farming, cleaning, feeding soldiers).
I have another Jewish friend who was never involved in politics. He told me that after October 7 he realized, “I won’t need money in the concentration camp.” He is now contributing to opposition campaigns to replace antisemitic politicians.
If you are a donor to universities, work to defund those with DEI departments that are promoting racism and inequality. Redirect your money toward universities that promote free speech, the ones whose objective is not to coddle our youth but to challenge their thinking. If you want to change society’s future, change its universities.
We all have special gifts. Use them. Fight for what is right, while we still have something to fight for. Vitaliy Katsenelson, CFA is CEO of IMA – a value investing firm in Denver. How can you safely invest in a market this speculative? Check out his free series on The 6 Commandments of Value Investing. Or for something more down-to-earth, check out Soul in the Game: a book of inspiring stories and hardwon lessons on how to live a meaningful life, drawn from classical composers, ancient stoics, and contemporary thinkers.
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