Posted on 09/30/2004 8:36:26 AM PDT by nypokerface
MERCER ISLAND, Wash -- Two prominent, long-time Democrats have said they will vote in November for President Bush: One is United States Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia; the other is former New York Mayor Ed Koch.
My experience as a lecturer and talk radio host assures me, however, that they will not be alone. Enormous numbers of Jewish voters, all long-time Democrats and more, I believe, than current polling indicates, will also be voting for President Bush. Let me tell you why.
No country has been a more stalwart friend of Israel than the United States. No other society has been more hospitable to its Jewish population. It is hard to think of another nation in which a Jewish community has enjoyed a longer period of tranquility and affluence.
The bond that has always existed between the United States and its Jews is so conspicuous that it has even attracted foreign attention. Hundreds of books have been published in Europe, Asia and many Islamic countries, chronicling the extraordinary prominence that Jews enjoy in the United States.
Many of these popular volumes are not necessarily anti-Semitic, as one might think; they are, rather, the result of a simple observation that would be clear to anyone who was not a recent immigrant from Patagonia: U.S. Jews are disproportionately represented among our country's elite.
There have been instances of anti-Semitic discrimination in the United States, yet it seems churlish to harp on them, given the many Jews who can still remember the terror of the frequent Saturday night pogroms in Eastern Europe -- not to mention what it might have been like to have been a German Jew during the period 1930-45.
Alongside the heart-stopping uncertainty of daily life that most European Jews experienced over the past few hundred years, getting denied admission by a Jewish medical school quota or not being allowed to buy a home in some choice neighborhood hardly ranks as a serious problem. Life has certainly been good for U.S. Jews.
For 2,000 years, in different countries and at different times, the wandering Jew found a resting place for his weary feet, some more hospitable than others.
Many, however, were downright painful but were, thankfully, only temporary. After two world wars left the United States as the mightiest economic and military power in the world, its Jewish community achieved maturity and emerged as the healthiest and wealthiest of all Jewish communities.
The hospitality that Jews have enjoyed in the United States is unparalleled in recent times and perhaps even in all time.
One explanation often advanced to account for the hospitality enjoyed by U.S. Jews has been the size of the American Jewish community along with its economic and political influence. In other words, people in the United States have been good to Jews because Jewish power has allowed them no alternative.
In addition to demonstrating astonishing ingratitude, this argument is as wrong headed as claiming that switching on streetlights causes the sun to set. Even a moment's humble reflection reveals that U.S. Jews have achieved prosperity and political prominence precisely because of the security and tranquility they have enjoyed here for so many years.
A valuable clue in the search for an explanation of the United States' fondness for Judaism, is that it comes most often from precisely those politicians who can hardly be said to preside over major centers of Jewish culture. For example, it is hard to make the case that former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., supported Israel in order to placate the large number of Jewish voters in North Carolina.
No, clearly something more profound lies behind several hundred years of affinity and friendship between the United States and Judaism. The question is, what?
The real answer is that in the history of the world, only two nations were founded on an idea rather than on a land. Judaism was founded on monotheism and the United States on freedom. Furthermore, there are only two peoples that foreigners can join with all subsequent rights.
Just try, for example, to become accepted as a naturalized Englishman, Frenchman, Swiss or Japanese. If one becomes a naturalized citizen of the United States or converts to Judaism, one becomes a full American or a full Jew with all rights, save one: a convert to Judaism cannot become king, and a naturalized American cannot attain the presidency.
Shortly after the founding of both the U.S. people and the Jewish people, each experienced a horrendous civil war. Both the war between the North and the South and the war between Judah and Israel were over moral issues and both wars allowed their respective people to continue to grow and prosper.
Only two countries, the United States and Israel, open their doors to immigrants from around the world who share their ideals. Both countries are unique in that their populations mostly comprise immigrants.
The founders of the United States, the Pilgrims, were called "separatists." Similarly the early Jews, Abraham and his family, were called "Ivrim" -- Hebrews, or in English - "separatists."
Early arrivals in both America and Israel found the lands to be populated by pagans who knew nothing of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; in one case, American Indians and in the other, Canaanites. Both people built their capital cities in a manner designed to guarantee equal access for all.
Neither Washington nor Jerusalem belongs exclusively to any one state or tribe.
The intrinsic similarity between these two great nations was not lost on the early Americans. Neither is it lost on their descendants, so many of whom still share a devotion to the Judeo-Christian principles that fueled our earliest visions. Robert Frost's "The Gift Outright" and John Winthrop's "City on the Hill" are only two of the many examples that reflect awareness of this deep spiritual bond that links Judaism and the American dream.
If the United States' support for Israel were based entirely on political expediency, that support would originate from the State Department. It does not. Instead. it springs from the heartland of the United States as a reflection of the deep commitment to Judeo-Christian values felt by so many people in the United States. President Bush personifies that commitment which is starting to make so many Jews feel comfortable with his party.
See my post #5 for the answer.
The Jewish vote will stay with Kerry, this time. He can access their (generally) strong social liberalism, while his very hawkish statements on Israel have reassured those who might otherwise be shaken loose.
But the writing is on the wall -- the Jewish intellectual leadership, particularly on the young side, is moving over to Republicans in a big way. The bulk of Jewish voters will eventually follow, just as the bulk of church-going white Catholics are now starting to follow their intellectual leadership, which started to trend Republican in the '80s.
When he ran for reelection as Governor of Texas in 1998, GW received right at 30% of the black vote. For real. I live in Texas and I know. 30%.
But it won't happen.
My point exactly. We won't necessarily see a sea change this cycle, but it's a comin'.
More Blacks and Jews will vote for W than in 2000 but by no means a majority or plurality.
Actually just about everything on the social agendas of the Left has prominant Jewish lefties at the vanguard from the abortion movement to affirmative action to God out of the public arena to gun control and so forth.
In short, the Left has done quite a lot for leftist Jewish activists. They have gotten most everything they have wanted from the early 60s onwards.....the tide has slowed a bit now but not because they are losing but because their newer causes are so ridiculous.
Dennis Prager: Why jews and black vote democrat: parts I and II
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/dennisprager/dp20030121.shtml
and
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/dennisprager/dp20030128.shtml
Oh, thanks...
I'll check it out.
I don't get much of a chance to listen to Prager but I use to enjoy his "Religion on the Line" program he used to do on Sunday nights...
BTW....I too believe the Jewish vote will be higher this year but still at least 2/3rds of Jews will vote for Kerry.
It really only matters in tight states with high Jewish populations...Florida and Jersey or Pennsylvania maybe.
This type of shift in the black or mexican vote would be more relevant.
I find it amazing how voting patterns are so intergenerational....even myself. I'm a Southern white male. We have been most likely to vote for the most socially and perhaps hawkish party since forever.
I thought you had to be Jewish to settle there and become a citizen.
All I can tell you is that I am a Jew, and I am voting for Bush!
people in the United States have been good to Jews because Jewish power has allowed them no alternative.
I believe these statements meet the current definition of anti-semitic. These kind of statements are not generally permitted on this site.
OK, you're on.
As much as logic tells me that Jews should be flocking to the Republican party and GWB, political reality tells me it won't happen.
Even though a signifigant portion of Democratic Party (black muslims mostly) hates Israel and everything Jewish.
Even though it is the Bible belt wing of the Republican party which holds a special respect for American Jews and Israel.
Even though a large portion of the Democrats secretly blame Israel for our current war on terror and openly advise that the US stop giving Israel such unconditional support.
I talk a lot with many of my Jewish friends and work and they in essense tell me they despise anyone (like GWB) who openly professes their Christianity.
A large percentage of American Jews are very secular and simply don't trust any leader who is not just as secular.
I will be pleasantly surprised if GWB gets 30 percent, but I don't think it will happen.
You do understand what is meant by "Jewish power"?
At less than 2% of the population, he is not talking about power that comes from a voting block.
I would expect this kind of talk permitted in France, but not in the United States.
WAGER bookmark for November 3!
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