Jews and politics
There’s an old and un-PC saying coined by Jewish sociolographer and neocon Milton Himmelfarb:
Jews earn like Episcopalians, and vote like Puerto Ricans.
Commenter “John Dough” may or may not be aware of Himmelfarb’s barb, but he has a related question when he observes:
I continue to be amazed at the American Jewish community continued support for the liberal position. This Islamic sympathizing president is doing his best to foment another holocaust. Quoting from “Back to the Future” ”¦”¦ “Hello, is anybody home”?
Himmelfarb was speaking more of personal economics vs political affiliation; J. Dough was referring to a more existential dilemma. But the basic question is the same: why are Jews liberals?
The question is so puzzling, and the answer so complex, that another neocon—Norman Podhoretz—wrote an entire book on the subject a few years ago. It’s on my list of “must-reads,” but I’m sorry to say I haven’t gotten around to it (the list is long). The Amazon blurb mentions that it was the question Podhoretz was asked most often in his long career, and I can well believe it.
I said I have not read the book, but I’m pretty sure it’s well worth reading (Podhoretz usually is). From the descriptions at Amazon, it seems he’s saying that Jews historically supported liberalism because it favored the end of persecution, and that originally Democrats were big supporters of Israel. That ended quite some time ago, as did the pro-Israel stance of the left—or, as, Ruth Wisse put it in her review of his book, “Part of the answer comes in [Podhoretz’s] survey of the historical connection between the Jews and liberalism, the rest in his up-to-date analysis of how liberalism became a proxy for Judaism.”
That last phrase (“liberalism became a proxy for Judaism”) is, in my opinion, the key. My answer to John Dough and anyone who would ask the question he asked is that most (not all) of the Jews who support the left politically are Jews in the ethnic and perhaps cultural but not the deeply religious sense (I’ve already discussed the phenomenon of “Jews who are not Jews” here).
Religious Jews have very different politics. In fact, they tend to be Republicans:
Politically, Orthodox Jews are far more conservative than other Jews. For example, 57% of Orthodox Jews describe themselves as Republicans or say they lean toward the Republican Party, while 36% are Democrats or lean Democratic. Among Jews as a whole, the balance tilts strongly in the other direction: 70% of Jews overall are Democrats or lean toward the Democratic Party, while just 22% are Republican or lean Republican.
Orthodox Jews, however, are in the minority among American Jews. Some statistics here:
[A 2003 Harris] survey found that of the 4.3 million strongly connected Jews, 46% belong to a synagogue. Among those households who belong to a synagogue, 38% are members of Reform synagogues, 33% Conservative, 22% Orthodox, 2% Reconstructionist, and 5% other types…
The 2008 American Religious Identification Survey found that around 3.4 million American Jews call themselves religious out of a general Jewish population of about 5.4 million [some claim the Jewish population in the US is actually a million more than that, depending on how you define it]. The number of Jews who identify themselves as only culturally Jewish has risen from 20% in 1990 to 37% in 2008, according to the study.
If you add Reform Jews to non-religious Jews, you get over 54% (by my admittedly speedy calculations). That says a lot right there. Particularly for the non-religious Jews (37% of the total), and also for many Reform Jews (38% of the observant 46%, or 17%), identification with Israel is low. In fact, many Jews have absorbed the prevailing leftist idea that after the Six-Day War Israel made some sort of change that meant it was no longer on the side of good but had turned into something bad (we won’t get into the specifics here, but that was a turning point where the left began to see Israel as a colonizer and exploiter rather than a nice noble socialist nation).
You might wonder why these Jews don’t understand that in an atmosphere of growing anti-Semitism they, too, would be at risk. The capacity of the human being for denial is large, and secular Jews in particular have a tendency to think this couldn’t or wouldn’t happen to them. They feel quite secure in their ability to demonize Israel because they do not identify strongly with it or its fate.* In the words of Mitchell Bard, “Jews have devoted themselves to politics with almost religious fervor.” Some of that fervor is the fervor that used to be given to religion itself.
[* NOTE: In another survey, even many so-called “religious” Jews are mostly secular:
…62% [of Jews surveyed] say being Jewish is mainly a matter of ancestry and culture, while just 15% say it is mainly a matter of religion. Even among Jews by religion, more than half (55%) say being Jewish is mainly a matter of ancestry and culture…
More details here
”¢ 61 percent of American Jews agree that “there a way for Israel and an independent Palestinian state to coexist peacefully. Compare this to 50 percent of the American public.
Ӣ The biggest supporters of a two-state solution are secular Jews (72 percent), Conservative Jews (62 percent) and Reform Jews (58 percent).
”¢ The biggest skeptics are Orthodox Jews (30 percent) and white Evangelical Christian (42 percent)…
”¢ 60 percent of Jews say they approve of Obama’s policy toward Israel. This is highest among Jews over 65 (at 66 percent) and Reform Jews (65 percent). Conservative Jews are also supportive (60 percent), with secular Jews a touch less so (54 percent).
”¢ Support is lowest among Christian groups; 38 percent of American Christians support Obama’s Israel policy, including just 26 percent of white Evangelical Christians.
”¢ The most critical Jewish group is Orthodox Jews, 36 percent of whom approve of Obama’s approach to Israel…
”¢ Pew came up with nine different traits commonly associated with Jewish identity and asked Jewish respondents to answer whether each is “essential to being Jewish.” Among those nine traits, “caring about Israel” was the fifth most likely to be selected. 43 percent called this essential.
”¢ Traits more likely to be considered “essential to being Jewish” than caring about Israel, from most to least popular: Remembering the Holocaust, leading an ethical and moral life, working for justice/equality, being intellectually curious.
Ӣ Among religious Jews, 49 percent called caring about Israel an essential Jewish trait. It still ranks fifth for this group.
”¢ Among secular Jews, only 23 percent called caring about Israel an essential Jewish trait. It ranks sixth, behind “having a good sense of humor.”
It’s very telling, I think.
I would add that most American Jews live in the strongly liberal enclaves of New York City and Los Angleles. These cities are liberal in part because they have so many Jews, of course, but there are plenty of other US cities without such huge Jewish populations that are just as strongly liberal. It is highly possible that the Jews of NY and LA are so strongly liberal for many of the same reasons that the non-Jewish populations in large urban coastal centers are so strongly liberal.]
The two-state solution will only occur if all Arabs and Muslims agree to live-and-let-live with the Jews.
I’m looking at the 12th of Never as the date that happens.
I’ve run into similar problems within Catholicism. Not exactly the same, but parallel. I also happened to hear a broadcast, quite recently, in which Christ (not something for the Jewish, though perhaps since it was before the… reformation through resurrection)… discussed that those who chose human traditions and practices over the holy were in grave error.
The problem, it seems, is that what had been ordained for priests in the temple, and various acts of cleansing of self and utensils, was passed into the general public and was considered a near requirement. It was when Christ and fellows were eating without having done proper washing and such, which as suggested was a bastardization of holy practices, but pushed into the general use.
What I mean is, it seems you are suggesting Jews (and I Catholics) have changed secular for holy, human tradition for Godly demands and commands. Or, that is what I believe I am seeing. For me it is a great problem. It will end badly. Why remember, for example, the holocaust if you don’t bother to remember why. And that is exactly what I see when a people holds the remembrance as holy but that the faith that was used to define who to murder is lost. Nor will that save them, especially as, regardless of what the poll shows, they support the very type of government that was behind the slaughter.
I get headaches thinking about such, so I don’t bother too much. I assume that the holocaust was so traumatic that they have surrendered to the fate of it, from the past into the future, and now merely work toward it. I let it go after that. Too bad they won’t be the only ones slaughtered this time. I hate to see suicide victims succeed, but it is better that that seeing politically self and mutually genocidal peoples succeed. I just wish they would choose to do it only to themselves, Catholic or Jew.
In fact, many Jews have absorbed the prevailing leftist idea that after the Six-Day War Israel made some sort of change that meant it was no longer on the side of good but had turned into something bad (we won’t get into the specifics here, but that was a turning point where the left began to see Israel as a colonizer and exploiter rather than a nice noble socialist nation).
Can’t put all the blame on leftists; we also need to look at the critical role played by France under the conservative leadership of Charles de Gaulle in changing attitudes toward Israel:
Nice guy. Just about all elements in France have had a problem with Jews and Israel for a very, very long time.
I like to think the answer is actually very simple – many people and groups (including progressives) like to support the underdog in any given situation. Those underdogs vary, of course – the impoverished, the displaced, the victimized.
For a very long time, Israel (and Jewish folks in general) was the underdog. That changed, and now the Palestinians and other less advanced Middle Eastern camp-dwellers appear to be the most pathetic and downtrodden and persecuted. So, naturally, they get the support.
Progressives and like-minded people always support the underdogs. Even when those underdogs are rabid.
Lotta long-windedness here, so I’ll be brief:
Reading Podhoretz on this is largely a waste of time. He had no better answers than Neo has already quoted.
Although you raise the question about Jews, the same question applies to many of the groups who voted for Obama. I’ll ignore the 2008 election – he was the great White (or Black) hope and would help every downtrodden yoyo. However, 2012 was different. Everyone experienced 4 years of the Great Divider. This is what I don’t get. Jews must have seen the anti Israrel/antisemite views and language of Obama and his ilk. Blacks should have seen that, under Obama, black unemployment and murders of blacks skyrocketed. Hispanics (many of whom are conservative) should have seen Obama change his views on Pro Choice and birth control. Every group conned by the social progressive Alinskyites in 2008 should have seen how they were then hurt. And yet, in 2012, EVERY ONE OF THOSE GROUPS VOTED FOR OBAMA. Can they all be that stupid?
“The student government of the Durban University of Technology, in South Africa, has called on the institution to expel Jewish students, although some quotes from student leaders suggest that Jewish students who support the Palestinian cause could remain, The Daily News reported. Mqondisi Duma, secretary of the student government, said, “We had a meeting and analyzed international politics. We took the decision that Jewish students, especially those who do not support the Palestinian struggle, should deregister.” A statement from Ahmed C. Bawa, vice chancellor of the university, denounced the student government’s request. He called the request “outrageous, preposterous and a deep violation of our National Constitution and every human rights principle.”
Maybe some Jews turn lib because they are cowards, and in their cowardice they can’t handle lib hate toward Jews.
NKBay99: “And yet, in 2012, EVERY ONE OF THOSE GROUPS VOTED FOR OBAMA. Can they all be that stupid?”
Yes. Unquestionably yes, they can and are that stupid. Stupid and Lib go together like hand in glove.
The surprise is that you seem surprised.
Huh. I’m surprised that roughly 50% of US citizens apparently believe that there is a way for Israel and Palestine to coexist. I would have thought that the number was much smaller.
I’ve read the Podhoretz book and concur with Don Carlos:
What he said could have been said in a magazine article. Or a blog post. I was disappointed because I really like his writings.
Voting blocs vote their wallets…
My sister is a school teacher — conservative — yet votes with the Democrats — like all of her peers — because of that party’s fat spending record towards lower education.
THIS, even though she laments that she’s now up to 40 hours per week filling out FEDERAL paperwork to justify their payola and ‘over-sight.’
&&&&&&
Similarly, many Jews and arch liberals are financially vested in Democrat spending priorities.
This means that when Barry Soetoro comes to town they HAVE to remit LARGE — as the visit is more of a shakedown than a campaign stop.
The following industries get a STAGGERING fraction of their revenue/ legal permits from the Federal government:
1) All broadcast media
2) The ENTIRE medical, pharma, insurance, legal cartel
3) Major exporters (aircraft…)
4) The (NSA) digital economy/ Big Brother security apparat
(Apple, MSFT, Intel, Adobe, … Raytheon, … et al
5) Wall Street/ Mega Banks
We could justifiably call these mega-sectors the Democrat economy.
A balanced budget would be literally ruinous to them.
Jewish attorneys are wildly over-represented in the ranks of tort attorney. This particular segment is the vital core of Democrat funding BETWEEN elections and EARLY in the election cycle. AFAIK, everyone votes Democrat — and to the left, yet further.
AKA “Social Justice Warriors.”
In economic terms, this is social parasitism run wild.
Christ informed us that the poor will always be with us.
Social Justice Warriors are willing to litigate the issue — on the Federal dime.
&&&&&&&&&
Poverty, as then defined, was dropping all through the early 20th Century in America — with some hiccups.
It stopped that macro trend once LBJ began his war on poverty and Medicare.
The number one source of family poverty was, and is, medical bills!
The complexities of Medicare guaranteed cartelization of that sector — replicating the cartels (guilds) in banking and law.
The very nature of guilds is what permitted Britain to initiate the Industrial Revolution while France was stopped with its ‘scientific academy.’ (Rational inquiry perverted into political games — and the defense of orthodoxy.)
We have now reached a time when 300 hours of ‘training’ are needed to braid corn-rows in certain southern states!
This is a CLASSIC example of taxing the poor. (Blacks)
North American Jew seem to account for 50 to 60% of all monies raised by the Democ.rats: busy, busy, busy ….
“IN THIS CONTEXT, the support of American Jewry is enormously important. Obama would presumably seek to avoid alienating his Jewish constituency, 80 percent of whom voted for him and also contributed more than 50% of Democrat campaign funding.”
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Candidly-Speaking-Obama-Netanyahu-and-American-Jews
Jewish Power by J.J. Goldberg
http://tinyurl.com/o9t9yrj
The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt
http://tinyurl.com/l37ujag
“In states such as Florida and New York, Jewish voters are a large enough percentage of voters to play a crucial role in election outcomes. In presidential elections, Democratic candidates depend on Jewish supporters to supply as much as 60 percent of the money raised from private sources. Any significant reduction in the financial support will weaken Democratic candidates and the Democratic Party organizations.”
http://www.stat.unc.edu/visitors/temp/NYT/Jcontrib.html
“Jews provided at least half the money donated to the DNC in the 1998 and 2000 election cycles.”
http://www.volokh.com/posts/1073968663.html
“Huh. I’m surprised that roughly 50% of US citizens apparently believe that there is a way for Israel and Palestine to coexist. I would have thought that the number was much smaller.”
——————-
Got this backwards.
>.<
I'm surprised that roughly 50% of US citizens do *not* believe that there's a way for Israel and Palestine to coexist.
Many people do not actually think beyond the surface. They fall for what is considered cool, hip, and the left’s ‘conventional wisdom’. Its easy to run with the herd even when it leads to the gas chamber.
This:
Jewish Die-In at Penn Station, New York
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeqhL_wwmUs
No comments necessary …
Then there is the icon of Jew Libtards, FDR:
Three days later, the text of FDR’s censored statement was published, by U.S. News and World Report. It reported that when Roosevelt mentioned he would soon be seeing Saudi Arabian leader Ibn Saud, Stalin asked if he intended to make any concessions to the king; “The President replied that there was only one concession he thought he might offer and that was to give him the six million Jews in the United States.”…
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/fdr-to-stalin-i-would-give-saudi-king-6-million-jews/
Never discount the deep visceral hatred that American Jews have for evangelical Christians and Southerners.
stan:
That’s quite a blanket statement you’re making. I doubt there is much more antipathy for either evangelicals and/or southerners among Jewish New Yorkers or Jewish Los Angelenos these days than there is among non-Jewish but non-religious other residents of those cities.
There are plenty of Jews who realize evangelicals are among their very best friends. Not only that, although urban centers of California, NY, and Massachusetts are where a lot of Jews live, there are quite a few southern states with sizable Jewish populations and others where the Jewish population has grown significantly in recent years. It is actually the non-coastal northwest (Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, North and South Dakota, Utah) that have the lowest percentage of Jews.
A hundred years ago there was a significant amount of belief among devout Christians that the Jews were Christ-killers. Christianity has been backing off from making that charge, and particularly in the last 50 years it has backed off a great deal. But older Jews remember.
“Among those households who belong to a synagogue, 38% are members of Reform synagogues, 33% Conservative, 22% Orthodox, 2% Reconstructionist, and 5% other types…”
however, the vast majority of the non orthodox( especially those younger than 65) are only twice a year synagogue goers with gentile children/grandchildren.
as Jews they are largely irrelevant.
It´s not only American Jews. Jews here in Europe are mainly leftish too.
My personal theory is that judaism is very focused in community, and that makes jews more prone to agree with a liberal point of view. What they don´t get is that thinking as a community is possible when there is some shared values.
Right now French Jews are scared (their children need protection to go to school, to avoid muslim attacks) and a big exodus towards Israel is growing, up to the point that Valls, the french president (Francois Hollande is the prime minister) has talked to jews into staying in France. No success.
UK seems to be following a similar path. In general, antisemitism in Europe is rising to a point where I would think in leaving if I was jew.
Neo,
That was a paraphrase of a statement made by a Jewish writer addressing this very question. I wish I could find it. I’ll keep looking for the article. The writer noted that evangelicals are stronger supporters of Israel than most American Jews, yet despite this support a lot of Jews really can’t stand evangelicals.
[Obviously the statement is an overly broad, blanket statement. Such is the nature of simple, broad declarations.]
A neighbor is a Sephardic Jew born and raised in Morocco, who married an American serviceman. While she is of the “Republicans care only for the rich” mindset, there are several factors in her background which push her in the opposite direction. She owns rental properties, so knows full well the challenges of being an entrepreneur, a knowledge which many Democrats are lacking. Second, having grown up in a Muslim country, she doesn’t drink the Obama kool-aid about Islam and terrorism. While she doesn’t like Obama, she thinks that Hillary is OK.
Gringo Says:
February 13th, 2015 at 11:00 am
A neighbor…
Great, just great …
Wacked by the Babylonians, Hacked by the Romans, Baked by the Germans and soon to be zapped by the Caliphate …. all in the span of 2000 years…
Nothing learned everything forgotten…
Maybe we Goys should stay out of the way …
Neo
IOW, we don’t hate you because we are JOOS, we hate you because we are Noo Yawkuz or from La-La Land. 🙂
If it is true that Angelenos have a dislike of southerners and/or evangelicals, it is at least in part a self-hatred. I have cousins in LA. My cousins’ parents made that California Trip from the Texas and Oklahoma homeland back in the day, along with many others.
Which reminds me of the time that my uncle in LA got stopped for speeding. The cop thought my uncle was drunk, but it was just my uncle’s Okie accent, as he passed a sobriety test- or so my uncle told me. Which reminds me of the story of Bobby Layne, the Hall of Fame quarterback.
So maybe my uncle was drunk?
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fla87
Neo:
there are quite a few southern states with sizable Jewish populations and others where the Jewish population has grown significantly in recent years.
Not many people know that the South can claim the first person of the Jewish faith to serve as US Senator. Perhaps even Governor.
Judah Benjamin was a Senator from Louisiana from 1853-1861, before serving as a Cabinet member in the Confederate government. David Levy Yulee, Judah Benjamin’s second cousin, was a Senator from Florida for two terms, from 1845-1851 and 1855-1861. Yulee was born Jewish but later converted to Christianity. While Yulee is the first person of Jewish origin to serve as US Senator, he is not the first person of the Jewish faith to do so.
David Emanuel was Governor of Georgia in 1801, but there is some controversy regarding his being or not being Jewish.
There is no doubt about the Jewish bonafides of Herbert Lehman, who was elected Governor of New York in 1932, and was later elected Senator. It is of interest that Lehman’s father immigrated to Alabama in 1848, and moved to New York after the Civil War. So there is a Southern connection even there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judah_P._Benjamin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_H._Lehman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Levy_Yulee
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Emanuel_%28Governor_of_Georgia%29
Aside from Norman Podhoretz, I’ve enjoyed hearing Dennis Prager’s explanations and assessments of the Jewish voter here in the USA.
He’s spoken on it many times and has put much thought into the conundrum posed by this group, of which he belongs….
stan:
Yes, it’s overly broad, but even taking that into consideration I think it used to be correct for a lot more people 75 years ago than today. I think it refers to very few people today, and the ones it refers to feel that way because they are New Yorkers or Angelenos rather than Jews. Plus, a great many Jews now feel very kindly disposed towards evangelicals.
Because they don’t shop at kosher grocery stores.
The majority of Jews are voting for the anti-Nazi position. Little do they know, the Nazis were left-wingers. Despite efforts to reduce personal liability via national redistribution schemes, following the profits of wealth, pleasure, and leisure will leave them a marked class. Supporting selective exclusion, rather than principled tolerance, will only exacerbate their fate. It’s amazing how many people seek or enjoy the benefits of America, only to seek its disruption and conversion.
FYI, Jews who are members of “Conservative” synagogues are almost all personally nonobservant and are overwhelmingly politically on the left.
As an Evangelical christian I never understood anyone being mad at Jews for being a “Christ killer”…..in reality, I have never met these Christians, I only hear about them in the third person.. …So the Jewish leaders got the Romans to kill Jesus…okay…yes…but Jesus and his apostles were also Jewish, so were most of the writers of the New Testament. If such Christians really exist- they are ignorant of their own faith!
jon baker:
The attitude is not at all common in recent years. When I was very young is was a lot more commonplace.
You write that the Jewish leaders got the Romans to kill Jesus. The historical accuracy of that account is also very much in dispute. See this and also this.
When Is Opposition to Israel and Its Policies Anti-Semitic?
http://en.qantara.de/content/brian-klug-robert-wistrich-when-is-opposition-to-israel-and-its-policies-anti-semitic
Neo-That Wiki article you linked to has this interesting quote :……. “Matthew 27:24—25 has no counterpart in the other Gospels and is probably related to the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 CE.[16] Ulrich Luz describes it as ‘redactional fiction’ invented by the author of the Gospel of Matthew.[17] Some writers, viewing it as part of Matthew’s anti-Jewish polemic, see in it the seeds of later Christian antisemitism.[18]’……LOL ….IF the the person making this statement about the Jewish Christian writer Matthew were consistent then he would have to declare Moses and the other prophets of the Old Testament were also antisemitic as they scolded and warned the Jewish people that judgement can fall….again…those Christians that have attacked Jews for “killing Christ” are ignorant or evil or seriously wrong at the least-I don’t care if they were church leaders or not.
I grew up with a liberal Jewish mother and a neocon Jewish father. Most questions like this are actually quite easy to answer.
1) Most non-Orthodox Jews who immigrated to America believed in the Enlightenment which ostensibly offered inclusion to them, i.e., they were already on the Left.
2) Although they were not actually persecuted in the United States, there were still many problems with day-to-day issues such as Christian prayers in public schools. This was a big deal, since secular Jews believe in living in the public space. Thus, they were interested in decreasing the public space for religion. Note that this is less of an issue for Orthodox Jews, who had their own schools, and basically create their own ‘private space’ to live in.
3) Jewish children learn from their Jewish parents. So in order for a liberal Jew to make the ‘switch’ over to conservatism, he or she has to go against their upbringing. Which is always hard (I made the switch, and I am constantly arguing with my relatives).
That’s really it.
The fact that so many “Jews” believe a Palestinian state could co-exist with Israel (or anyone else for that matter) may say it all. Such an opinion reflects a naive belief rather than a knowledge based on reality. It arises as a result of isolation from the real world brought about by years of peace and prosperity; the very definition of the liberal worldview.
Most Jews are liberals because they are wealthy enough to live in a fantasyland.
I have long admired Jewish intellectual capacity and work ethic, which is second to none. I have also noticed a cyclicality to Jewish existence over hundreds of years. They seem to wear out their welcome after a certain time. Much of this I’m sure is due to jealously and sour grapes from the majority population in the area they inhabit.
But I do believe there is some self inflicted damage. Discourse has never been a Jewish strong suit. One of the negative products of their success is a level of righteousness that almost borders on professing a predestined racial superiority.
Of course, in being a minority population wherever they’ve settled…this has not served them well. Many say that this brash lack of discourse is the result of years of oppression. I believe that argument to be very much similar to the chicken and the egg.
I continue to support Israel’s right to exist….as to me…it is a civilized oasis surrounded by ignorance and barbarism.
My hope is that the Jewish people see the warning signs around them…and are not blinded by the light of their own perceived greatness.
Darren L:
What about the lives and attitudes of Sephardic Jews, who lived in Arab countries for millennia? Or the Jews of pre-Czarist nineteenth century Ukraine in shtetls, who tended to be very poor? I’m not at all sure they had any sort of superior attitude; the shtetl Jews in particular were for the most part fairly downtrodden.
Isn’t Jewish humor quite self-deprecating? And the “chosen people” concept is often very misunderstood to mean a sense of superiority, which it does not mean.
However, for a number of reasons that are not well understood (but about which people have many theories), once Jews are given the opportunity to enter all professions, they often excel in certain professions (for example, look at science and Nobel Prizes). This isn’t about a sense of superiority, this is about actual achievement outside what would be expected for their numbers. In and of itself, that can cause resentment.
Collectivism and its modern equivalent, Marxism, have always enjoyed strong support among Jews. The Kibbutz is a unique Jewish construction that is as close to idealized communism as you can get. The Jews were a socialist minded people long before they ever set foot in New York, Chicago or Los Angeles.
Simply put, many, maybe most Jews who left Europe did so to escape clerical-driven anti-Semitism, and their sympathies were for obvious and self-interested reasons with the liberal or left side of European politics (the right being monarchies and clericalism). I’m talking about after the failed revolutions of 1848 and fleeing the Tsarist pogroms in Russian Poland, Ukraine and Belorussia around the turn of the 20th century. This left them prone to sympathize with every leftist idea that came down the pike (e.g., New Deal, Bolshevism) that wasn’t overtly anti-Semitic (e.g., Naziism).
This became the way most reform and Conservative Jews defined themselves and their associative groups.
the tragedy is that as the world has changed and the old European monarchical-clerical Right has disappeared and the Left is now the great threat to Jews, they are so self- and group-identified with teh Left, they refuse to see it. They see evangelical Christians as a threat, which is absurd, and don’t take the lesson of leftists marching in support of Palestinian jihad.
Questions from the goyim:
Is there any long-term demographic significance to the above statistics? I would hazard a guess that Orthodox and (for lack of a better term) quasi-Orthodox Jews who refer to themselves as Orthodox have more children than other American Jews, with the notable exception of ultra-Orthodox folks (see below). Assuming that their children absorb much of their politics, is it a stretch to think that a growing minority of American Jews might turn more conservative in the next few decades?
Apropos demographics but largely unrelated to conservative-liberal ethnoreligious splits, do ultra-Orthodox Jews participate much in the electoral process on a national level? I have a vague recollection that many in the largest cities vote or lobby (or both) for local district pols and officials, but also that others shun the political process entirely, and very few are particularly enamored of federal politics. Is this way off in (pun not intended) left field?
Jews in countries outside of Israel support any political movement that undermines nationalism, they also fully support mass immigration to further water down borders and institutions. This is a defensive measure as nationalists have issues with jews, they have for thousands of years.
JP:
I don’t know whether Orthodox Jews vote less frequently, but I’ve never read anything that indicates that. The ones I know are very, very political.
As for the demographics, you are correct:
Interesting. Many thanks, neo-neocon.
I have been reading Paul Johnson’s History of the Jews, which makes a sustained, coherent argument that the culture and inclinations underlying modern “cultural” Judaism is very old, very entrenched, and a traditional part of Jewish identity. He notes the centuries-old practice of welfare-state-style policies, ghetto communalism, statist sympathies, the duty of wealth to subsidize intellectual study, a certain suspicion of the mob and democratic polities, and a general tendency towards urban life throughout the diaspora centuries. I haven’t finished the book yet, but he also touches on the social-democratic nature of the Zionist project, and the very conflicted relationship between the Ashkenazi masses and capitalism.
In short, Jews vote the way they do because of millennia of tradition and cultural inclination, for many of the same reasons that Kansans vote Republican.