The coalition resembles a merry-go-round. A roller coaster, a Ferris wheel, an amusement park. Fun laced with fear. A closed system of intrigue and schemes. The contents -- like the Jewish state law, stripping residency from certain Palestinians, the zero percent tax law and the health care reform that will only increase the number of ailments -- are seen only as a game, a kind of putty to be molded by politicians, not as the main point. The tables have turned; it is time for the public to save the politicians from themselves. Everything would look different had the coalition members intended to maintain the integrity of the government. It also would look different if they seriously wanted early elections. But they themselves do not know what they are looking for. Polls are published and they do not see. They are given explanations and they do not hear. Every desire is met with reservations. Every step forward with hesitation. Uncertainly, they walk along parallel lines that will never meet. Relevant steps are seen as stunts. Interior Minister Gilad Erdan began his new position by requesting to strip residency from sinners. This is reasonable. But his first target was an accomplice to a terrorist, the one who drove the terrorist to the site of the Dolphinarium suicide bombing many years ago. That is populist. It will not stand in the High Court of Justice (and then they will say that the court does not take care of Jewish Israelis). That raises a question: Is there no one who sinned more recently? A fresh criminal? Is the situation so ideal here that you really need to dig back 13 years to find a Palestinian to punish? Things cannot go on like this. If this coalition wants to reconcile, it must sit down and sew up every tear so that it does not present itself to the public until it is stable and sound. And if it is not interested in (or does not want) reconciliation, then early elections are preferable to a political horror story that cycles repeatedly. The public is coming to the conclusion that all the compromises, usually reached just in time for the weekend papers, are not a sincere effort to maintain a joint political life, but are born out of the desire to win public favor. Every party in the coalition wants its neighboring party to be thought responsible for the breakdown of the government. That is how democracies erode themselves and no national law that pays them lip service is going to save them from a bitter fate. The lesson is clear: If the coalition parties cannot reconcile and compromise in the long term, then we may as well start heading to the polls.
