The Jewish Love Affair with the Democrats

JewishPress via FrontPagemag.com ^ | 10/17/03 | Jason Maoz

[KantianBurke]

"the more Orthodox a particular Jewish neighborhood or community, the more likely it is to vote for Republican candidates."

Unless of course they're corrupt and need a favor from Hiterly to spring some of their fellow travelers from prison. Then they vote for the pro aborts.

[Susannah]

"Despite the fact that his books were ghost-written (the journalist Arthur Krock was in large measure responsible for "Why England Slept,"

"Why England Slept" WAS written by JFK. It was made into a book from JFK's college thesis. This was clear in the the documentary film clips released this year from the PBS film "The Perilous Fight: America's WWII in color"

[Susannah]

FYI ping

[alan alda]

Maoz is right: Arthur Krock, a friend of John Kennedy's father, wrote Kennedy's college term paper for him. The term paper was later published as a book, again thanks to Papa Joe's connections. Read "A Question of Character" by Thomas Reeves.

[samtheman]

American Jews were blind to the anti-semitism of Roosevelt in the 30s and 40s... and are blind to the anti-semitism of the Hitlery and the American Left today.

[Batrachian]

This phenomenon was adequately explained by that university professor from Israel, I think it was Steven Plaut, who wrote how to most Jews liberalism is their religion, and who are liberals going to vote for, eh?

[Leisler]

Name the only WWII Navy officer who had his ship was rammed and sunk by the enemy and who 17 years later oppointed the investigating officer to the Supreme Court?

[BigLittle]

Another line of reasoning one encounters is that Jews gravitated to the Democratic party because the party best served their interests

And because Hitlery knows how to make nice nice with the friendly Arafat family?

[nathanbedford]

I hope and believe that the author is too pessimistic in his holding that Jews will continue to support Democrats despite Republican strong support of Israel caussed by a stubborn liberalism which inhabits American Jewry.

My hope (admittedly not grounded in any empirical evidence) rests on two factors: First, the war on terror. I believe this changes the game board radically for a significant percentage of Jews, even those the author dubs secular or humanist Jews. Second, The emergence of intellectual Jews within the conservative block has made it respectable for Jews to abandon the faith and begin to vote their particular interests.

I instinctively understand why secular Jews historically have had such difficult trials in their unwillingness to reconcile to the Republican Party even when it proves a better friend of Israel and better represents their class interests. I don’t think it has much to do with the Jewish experience, per se as the author supposes, but all to do with their antagonism to the things of God. This has not to do with the familiar and often expressed anxiety that fundamentalist Christians are of a type of mentality which can too easily slip into pogrom, such as energizes the opposition to Gibson’s THE PASSION. It does have to do with the instinctive resistance of all godless men to submitting to the will of a Higher Power. To the degree they see the Republican Party as the author of restrictions on their freedom of action, they must oppose it despite all else.

This is an unconscious reaction and would be indignantly and honestly denied by those, whether Jew of Gentile, who become enraged at the social conservatism in the Republican platform.

[rrrod]

i have wondered for yrs why american jews can sit still and just watch as leading democRATS insult them constantly

[joyful1]

The Deomocrats will be a big part of the ondoing of the Jews.

[Sam Cree]

IMO, the article could more accurately be titled "The Jewish Love Affair with Socialism." They vote for Democrats because Democrats are the closest to socialists.

My belief is that Jews have traditionally embraced socialism because they saw (and see) in its egalitarianism hope for an escape from anti Semitism.

Ironically, socialism, because it views people as members of specific groups, rather than as individuals, makes anti Semitism more likely.

American Jews seem to be in denial over the current leftist worldwide wave of anti semitism.

[WorkingClassFilth]

The bloom will wear off the rose when they are asked by their local RAT precinct captain to remove their clothes and go into the showers.

[Impy]

"The Jewish Love Affair with the Democrats "

Oh no!! The demorats will give them aids!!

[ken5050]

Israel has a "rabbi" in the Congress..Tom DeLay..

[Sam Cree]

How do you mean?

[ken5050]

in the best posssible sense..."rabbi" is a term of art...for a supporter, an advocate, and innt his case, a weak pun..

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

[TopQuark]

It does have to do with the instinctive resistance of all godless men to submitting to the will of a Higher Power.

You offere here a very deep insight. I think it is defintiely true and, as such is almost universal; that is, it drives as much those from formerly Christian families as those from formerly Jewish families (leftists are neither Christian nor Jewish, in my view, despite what they claim themselves).

In the case of Jews, there are two additional idiosyncrasies. At least the first waves of these immigrants did remember bad experiences in Europe, as the author points out. There is also the task of a Jew referred to as tikkun olam -- to repair the world and, in particular, to alleviate injustice, hinger, and suffering. A religious Jew is commanded to take care of "the widow and the orphan in your midst" daily. This is a very important part of the Jewish psyche.

Now, observe that that the above-given quote uses singular rather than plural. One is supposed to contribute to the betterment of the world personally and direct his or her efforst to individual persons. As is the rest of the religion and in Christianity, the relationship with G-d is personal, not corporate.

Unfortunately that is where confusion occurs for many: in similarity to non-Jewish liberals, many Jews think and feel that they repair the world if they advocate "humane" government measures and laws. Socialists speak of the betterment of the world also. They also offer equality that the Jews in Europe, and here until the second half of XX century, did not have. This explains in part the enthusiasm of many Jews for that utopia.