Some see Jewish shift toward GOP

Boston Globe ^ | 5/7/2003 | Anne E. Kornblut

[Nonstatist]

The Jewish community responded enthusiastically when Senator Joseph I. Lieberman joined the presidential ticket in 2000, a move many saw as recognition of their long support for the party of Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. As they had for every election in decades, Jewish voters overwhelmingly cast their ballots for the Democrats.

[CPT Clay]

Tell em to come on down they are welcome

[Mr. Mojo]

Murray Rothbard

Rothbard is a very interesting read - especially his The Ethics of Liberty - and was a very smart guy, but his anarchistic advocacy of no gov't (rather than limited gov't) goes a bit too far for my taste. His arguments, however, are very persuasive and should at least be checked out by anyone interested in the subject.

[Tarsk]

"With these considerations, critical thinkers within the Jewish community should carefully reconsider their blind loyalty to the Democrat party, what it has gotten them, and what it will deliver in the future."

Blind loyalty has got Jews nowhere whichever political party they have supported. Every religion (although Roman Catholicism has been by far the worst in this respect) have persecuted and murdered Jews. Every political party from both right and left has abandoned the Jewish people when it proved expedient for them to do so.

Your figures about Israel are also incorrect unless you include the territories which I cannot forsee being in Israel's hands in 20 years.

Incidentally, I don't imagine your rather unsubtle threats will do much to endear American Jews to your cause either.

[Alouette]

those ultra-orthodox Satmars up in New Square

Ultra-Orthodox Jews in New Square are Skvira Hasidim (hence the name "New Square" which derives from "New Skvira"). Satmars live in Williamsburg and Kiryas Yoel.

With this embarrassing exception, most Orthodox Jews in NY voted for Lazio.

[SBprone]

"secular Jews who have always been nihilistic and unapologetically leftist in their political outlook. "

I've known some folks like that. Often they don't have kids. I don't worry too much about these kind of people having a lot of influence in a generation or two, due to their lack of interest in reproducing.

[DoctorMichael]

.....she was caught referring to "Those Fvcking Jews!".....

Just for the sake of correctness, I believe it was, "Effing Jew bastard!".

[jmaroneps37]

Just the fact that the rats have to THINK about how the Jewish voters will go, means trouble in the evil donkey's barn. Add this to the fact that there are now cracks in the once solid Black vote and; we've got lots of dumb rat stunts to sit back and watch!

[JohnGalt]

Personally, I liked his 'take' on American history. He took the theories of the Austrian school of economics and wrote an entire story of the American experience as a permanent alternative to the governments story.

Rothbard is guilty as charged, however, I am sure you are aware that he did not just theorize he focused on pragmatic solutions like creating the Cato Institute, which many modern day conservatives are at least familiar with. I also point out to his practical application for supporting immigration restrictions to prevent the welfare state from recruiting more clients...that was a sharp break from the modern day, left-leaning Libertarian Party.

Lastly, his efforts to revive the Old Right in the 1990s has created an entire intellectual movement that stands opposite the DC establishment. Link below, to Tom Fleming's tribute:

http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/Chronicles/December2000/1200Fleming.htm

[IowaHawk]

"Some see Jewish shift toward GOP"

Well, duhhhhhhh.

I live in a Chicago 'burb with a high concentration of Jews (30-40% of the population), mostly younger. The shift in political attitudes here has been nothing short of amazing. Prior to 9/11 most of my Juppie neighbors were perfunctorially left-lib, and routinely dismissed W as an lightweight idiot Texas goy, blah blah blah. Sort of a breezy throw-away "enlightened" attitude.

All that began to change on 9-11, and continued to change. With every Pro-Palestinian March on Berkeley, every Sheila Jackson Lee embrace of terrorist front groups, every ANSWER anti-war rally. Many have finally realized where their real allies are... politically, economically, and survival-wise.

I am now pleasantly shocked to hear many jewish neighbors voice public support for Bush and other Republicans, something that almost never occured before 2001. It's gone from 80-20 to 40-60.

[Alberta's Child]

What makes you think liberal Jews are hard core Socialists?

Aren't they? If you look at all the major political figures in this country and organize them by race and ethnicity, you'll find that the most hard-core leftists are blacks and secular Jews. It's also interesting to note how many of these leftists have family roots in cities in the northeastern U.S. This is no accident -- these cities were enclaves for immigrants from eastern Europe in the early decades of the 20th century who brought some of the mindset of their Communist homelands with them to the U.S.

Just look at the people who are held (rightly!) up as objects of ridicule on this site -- Do you think it's just a coincidence that there are a disproportionate number of minorities and secular Jews among them?

[Mr. Mojo]

I am sure you are aware that he did not just theorize he focused on pragmatic solutions

Yep, and he went into extraordinary detail. ...A very original thinker. I may disagree with him on (more than) a few issues, but I respect him greatly. I've wanted to check out his multi-volume set on American history for quite some time now, but have never gotten around to it.

[Alberta's Child]

You still sound like an anti-Semite, however.

There's a reason why I specifically use the term "secular Jews" to describe these people. I'm no expert on Judaism, but based on what I do know about it I hardly consider these people "Jewish" in any real sense.

Imagine that -- I'm now anti-Semitic because my complaint about these people is that they aren't Jewish. LOL!

[Mr. Mojo]

There's a reason why I specifically use the term "secular Jews" to describe these people There are more secular Jewish conservatives out there than you'd imagine.

[gcruse]

,younger Jewish Americans seem more likely to lean Republican

It's about time.  I don't know what more we can do.  
We support Israel like it was our kid away at school,
and every guy I know has been circumcised.  What's left?

[Dan from Michigan]

It's just a reflex with so many of them, and most look at me like I have 3 heads on my neck when I tell them that I am not a 'rat.

Sounds familiar. I was an at an Irish pub and someone asked me what I did for a living. "You're Irish and a Republican??" I said. "Yep, so was Reagan"

If the Irish of all people now split their votes and realize that this is not the Anti-Catholic party of the 1850's, then I have no doubt the Jews may eventually do the same, especially if the David Bonior/John Conyers wing of the dems keep opening their traps.

[Bella_Bru]

There are more secular Jewish conservatives out there than you'd imagine.

A good many members of the Republican Jewish Coalition that I have met out here are "secular" or "High Holy Day Jews".

[SJackson]

THE ISRAEL SWING FACTOR: HOW THE AMERICAN JEWISH VOTE INFLUENCES U.S. ELECTIONS

In 2000 the electoral shift, on the part of New York's Jewish swing vote, was even more dramatic. Not only did the traditional 30 percent swing vote side against Democrat Hillary Clinton, but even the uncontested 60 percent "base" of the Democrats was eroded, bringing Clinton's Jewish support down to between 53 and 56 percent. 37 As she lost even more than the Jewish votes that were seen to be in play, it could be said that Hillary Clinton completely failed in her appeal to the Jewish community.

But this would be a mistaken interpretation. It ignores a basic difference between the 2000 race and nearly every one that preceded it in recent memory: the normal expectations - of a 60 percent base, a 30 percent swing, etc. - rely on the typical condition that all the candidates are above suspicion with regard to Israel. Even in the case of Robert Abrams, who lost the entire Jewish swing vote, there was no doubt that he was supportive of Israel, not to mention other Jewish concerns. It was simply a matter of what the Jewish community felt it owed Senator D'Amato for his past record.

Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, entered the New York race on the defensive about her support for the Jewish state. Voters quickly became familiar with her famous call for the establishment of a Palestinian state two years earlier, at a time when even the Israeli-Palestinian terms for negotiation explicitly prohibited taking such steps. That and her public embrace of Suha Arafat, immediately after the Palestinian icon's libelous speech about alleged Israeli practices, became the bane of her campaign in New York's Jewish community. Republican Rick Lazio, by contrast, had been a particularly strident supporter of Israel, even for a Long Island Congressman, although this may not have been widely known. From the onset, Clinton seemed headed for a disastrous showing among Jews.

A poll taken by Zogby International in both May and July had Clinton taking a mere 48 percent of the Jewish vote, which is unprecedented for a Democrat. 38 By September, however, Clinton had gained an advantage, with a new Zogby International poll showing her winning 52 percent of the Jewish vote, a closer approximation to what she actually received. 39

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

There was some deal for their vote in exchange for releasing or pardoning a member of that group. Anyone else remember?

[Mr. Mojo]

Yep, many seem to be under the impression the only GOP/conservative Jews are Hassidic/orthodox, and therefore culturally alien to the "typical American." Nothing could be further from the truth.

[Alberta's Child]

You hit on some interesting points there, some of which go to the very heart of what I call "the paradox of secular Judaism."

You are confusing intelligence and worldly success with virtue, and nihilism with moral depravity. A Nobel Prize does not make one virtuous, regardless of how many people benefit from the research, work, etc. of a Nobel Prize winner. The Nobel Prize is a "nihilistic" award by definition because (as far as I know) nothing in the history of the award or in any of its formal documents, processes, etc. even acknowledges the idea of a Supreme Being.

If anything, a secular person is probably far more likely to be "successful" in a worldly sense than most people, since (for him) there is nothing to accomplish beyond what is accomplished in this world. Look at Bill Gates and Mother Teresa -- there is no doubt that Bill Gates has done far more for the people of India (in a worldy sense) than Mother Teresa ever has, but he's also something of a super-rich, leftist crackpot who supports all kinds of Marxist endeavors through his "charitable" foundation. Mother Teresa was far more virtuous in the act of picking a single dying person off the streets of Calcutta than Bill Gates was in the act of helping to build an entire IT industry in India.

What about the nihilistic, unapologetic Roman Catholics?

You won't get an argument from me, though you might want to set your sights a little higher. Fallen-away Roman Catholics are probably the most marginal people you'll ever meet.