thanks admin

“The working classes and the middle class tend not to be leftist at all.”

Good reason to remain lib. Otherwise you’d be identified with the working and middle classes.

However, now that the demographics of leftism have changed, I agree with you that it is now chic to be on the left, especially in academia and the professions where many Jews reside.

When I say the demographics of leftism have changed, I am referring to the fact that, although for many years there has been a trend towards the left in academia, for most of the first half of the twentieth century there was also a robust working class leftism. Many of the immigrant Jews of that time (and some of their first-generation descendants) were in that tradition. Now the left is composed of some of the very poor (who are for the most part not ideologues; they want the handouts) and the rich, a U-shaped curve. The working classes and the middle class tend not to be leftist at all.

I wish I could find the piece, but it was pretty clear that the writer–I believe a Jew–thought that being liberal was a matter of moving on up–or not moving down.

Now, what about the descendants of energetically observant Jews who go liberal and secular? Will there be a change in their social stratum?

Do liberal, secular Jews view observant, conservative Jews with disdain? Are they like rednecks, Sarah Palins? How do they refer to energetic defenders of Israel?

What I’m getting at is whether there is a social disincentive–among all the other factors–to being conservative, defending Israel? If a lib started that, what would happen to him socially?

Might’s well belong to Jews for Jesus or the Baptists. Anything like that?

The Jews who are liberal now are mostly the descendants of people who were poor. Most present day Jews were never poor themselves.

But their poor ancestors (especially the ones who were not especially religious, and there were many of those) were very often liberal or leftist themselves, if they were political at all. That is the point I’m making.

For the most part, their richer descendants are not adopting a new position out of snobbery. They are mostly continuing the leftist tilt of their poorer ancestors, at least the ones who were politically active and involved.

Cruel joke in western Michigan, known for being conservative, especially in religion.

Guy’s house burns partly. Next Saturday, all his buddies from the Dutch Reform Church show up with their pickups, their compressors, their saws, their hammers and miter boxes, the loads of lumber and pvc and somebody’s Bobcat. They stand in a circle with their arms over each others’ shoulders and pray that it goes well for Brother Bob and his family and that nobody gets hurt, for the glory of God and his son, Jesus Christ. Then they get’er done.

OTOH, if it were Episcopalians, they’d show up with candles and hold a vigil.
This is a bit rough on the Piskies, but would not be as funny if there were not just the hint of validity.
Problem is, even being capable of gettin’er done has a slight blue-collar, negative, non-intellectual connotation.

One possible answer, which I don’t believe has been addressed yet in this thread, is the very strong Jewish cultural tradition toward education, toward social justice, and toward charity. The aforementioned TIKKUN is named after tikkun olam, literally “fixing the world”, which is usually taken to mean “doing your part to make the world a better place”; this is something Jews expect other Jews (and themselves) to do. Charity (called tzedakah in Hebrew, from the same root as the Hebrew word for “justice”), is likewise expected; in fact, it’s an obligation, a mitzvah.

Put all this together, exaggerate it a bit for stereotype’s sake, and you get an interesting image: the egghead academic who is obsessed with giving to charity and agitating to improve the world. (Does this sound familiar?)

The Jewish trend toward political conservatism, in my humble opinion, goes against the grain, and is largely in response to oppression — when Jews needed to worry less about fixing the world and more about their own personal survival. I’d wager that many conservative American Jews today would give a similar reason for their conservatism — that liberalism is nice, but that the dangers are just too great to be able to afford niceness.

“The pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, an almost fanatical love of justice, and the desire for personal independence, these are the features of the Jewish tradition which make me thank my lucky stars I belong to it.” — Albert Einstein (1879-1955)