Posted on 03/29/2004 5:21:51 PM PST by veronica
How? Would the existence of a single conservative, Republican Jew be enough? Because to my manner of logic, that alone would tend to invalidate the kind of blood-guilt you seem to be invoking.
I think the point of the article and resulting thread is, historical trends aside, the Jewish vote is increasinlgy up for grabs - as well it should be, for the sake of Israel if nothing else. I personally would welcome the mass political re-alignment of a sizable percentage of American Jews, and welcome already the mere opportunity for that to happen.
I guess I'm a GOB (Good Old Boy)
Jews who still vote Democrat are:
1. Leftist college kids with no Jewish observance in their lives and who know more about Che Guevera than they do about Pesach.
2. Senior citizens who don't want to betray FDR.
3. Baby Boomers, former hippies, and their children who may live pretty solid, normal lives and don't have a clue because they get their news from CNN, Brokaw, and the New York Times.
I agree. You have to realize that I am speaking about University professors, 2 who used to teach at Oberlin. I can not imagine them voting Republican but I would never have thought that they would ever even consider looking at Republicans with anything but contempt. Their world has definitely been shaken in the last 3 years nd their world view is expanding so that it now encompasses them looking at what the Republicans are doing.
It's the same on the Christian / Gentile side of the aisle. Point out any regular Sunday morning churchgoer, I'll guess Republican. Point out any regular Saturday night clubhopper, I'll guess Democrat. And I'll usually be right on both counts.
2. Senior citizens who don't want to betray FDR.
Now that's an interesting category. I would sort of expect some manner of lingering resentment towards FDR for remaining officially neutral while Hitler was razing the ghettos, and waiting for Hitler to declare war on the U.S. rather than immediately jumping in when the first bombs fell on Britain. Poland, even. But then, he did preside over the majority of the War of the Holocaust, and commit to eradicating Nazism... after Pearl Harbor.
Not to mention, consistantly voting for GUN GRABBERS you would think that they would watch out for that!!!
Pro-Israel stance? Are Senate Dems now in the comedy biz? Is inviting Arafat to the WH every other week a "pro-Israel stance?" How about the utter disaster (for Israel) that was the (Clinton-brokered) Oslo Accords? How about the fact that the majority of anti-Semites in this country reside on the left and vote Democrat?
50% of Jews under 30 voted for Bush in the last election. It'll be interesting to see what the #'s are this time around.
You are right. Jews now have the hard choice between remaining with the increasingly scary Demo-Socialists, or joining with the Republicans representing Jacksonian America.
William Mead described Jacksonian America in a classic article in The National Interest. Jews have been outside Jacksonian America, much of which is antithetical to them. However, over time, Jacksonian America and Jewish Americans have been moving towards each other, and now the distance doesnt seem so great. Jacksonians are not Anti-Semitic, and a place is reserved for American Jews at the Jacksonian table. There the Jews will enjoy the absolute security they have never had in history nor elsewhere on the planet. The Democrats, in which theyve placed their lot, have become socialists, and harbor anti-Semites. They are increasingly capable of anything. Jews will realize that just as Israels security depends on Jacksonian America, likewise will their personal security. They will leave the Democrats to become Republicans.
Relevant excerpts from The Jacksonian Tradition :
Urban, immigrant America may have softened some of the rough edges of Jacksonian America, but the descendants of the great wave of European immigration sound more like Andrew Jackson from decade to decade. Rugged frontier individualism has proven to be contagious; each successive generation has been more Jacksonian than its predecessor. The social and economic solidarity rooted in European peasant communities has been overmastered by the individualism of the frontier. The descendants of European working-class Marxists now quote Adam Smith; Joe Six-pack thinks of the welfare state as an expensive burden, not part of the natural moral order. Intellectuals have made this transition as thoroughly as anyone else. The children and grandchildren of trade unionists and Trotskyites now talk about the importance of liberal society and free markets; in the intellectual pilgrimage of Irving Kristol, what is usually a multigenerational process has been compressed into a single, brilliant career .
Jacksonian society draws an important distinction between those who belong to the folk community and those who do not. Within that community, among those bound by the code and capable of discharging their responsibilities under it, Jacksonians are united in a social compact. Outside that compact is chaos and darkness .
The absolute and even brutal distinction drawn between the members of the community and outsiders has had massive implications in American life. Throughout most of American history the Jacksonian community was one from which many Americans were automatically and absolutely excluded: Indians, Mexicans, Asians, African Americans, obvious sexual deviants and recent immigrants of non-Protestant heritage have all felt the sting
Although cultures change slowly and many individuals lag behind, the bulk of American Jacksonian opinion has increasingly moved to recognize the right of code-honoring members of minority groups to receive the rights and protections due to members of the folk community. This new and, one hopes, growing feeling of respect and tolerance emphatically does not extend to those, minorities or not, who are not seen as code-honoring Americans.
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