There have been more than two very interesting articles about why Jews are Democrats. They both give the history of why most Jews voted Democratically. Since World War II when President Roosevelt was in power, we have been grateful to find America a haven from the killing fields in Europe that took the lives of six million Jews. Thank goodness we were here.
We've been very loyal to Roosevelt's party. Now we've had 65 years of living peacefully in the United States, which is quite a stretch for us Jews. We've come from being kept out of organizations because of our religion to being accepted. We were kept out of jobs and schools and now find ourselves just one of the guys. Life has become good. That's almost three generations from Europe and pogroms and the holocaust. Our present generation knows very little about our past unless the parents were directly involved with past events. Our school systems do not dwell on this part of history, so our children just have not become impacted by it. How many attend Sunday School and even listen to the history portion in class? Being a past teacher and Sunday School teacher in Oregon, I know that very little has reached our young citizens.
I was on the Democratic Party's inner circle in Eastern Oregon, and even had a a party after an election before 1980 when our man won. I graciously invited my mother to the party even though she was a rebel and had voted Republican. I never considered ever voting Republican. She said she was more interested in what they stood for and not the party. She really investigated them. Her vote cancelled out my father's vote, but they learned to live with it.
When it came to voting again in this election, I found Democrats to be so engrossed in the identification of being a Democrat that they did not consider Israel's life at all. They were appalled at being questioned about it. The fact that the Bush Era had been such a mess determined their judgements. Anything to get away from the Republicans was their thinking in my opinion. Their thoughts were the same as most Americans. Stop the war. Save the soldiers. Obama was such an artful speaker. Who could argue against him? The world loved him. He was good for America and would be the first black president. Voters were more interested in saving the planet and going green than rescuing Israel.
I am an American with dual citizenship with Israel. I lived there for over five years teaching English as a Foreign Language in Safed. It was amazing to check with my mother back home in Oregon to find that what was happening in Israel was not reported in her papers. Obviously, the reporters were only interested in anything that showed how bad Israel was instead of all the horrid things happening to her or mention the good things it was creating and sharing with the world. It was depressing to find that prejudice existed again after our revival of support in 1967.
There were so many indications that Obama would not be supportive of Israel if elected, but most Democratic Jews that I knew would not read or consider the findings and possibilities. Israel was outweighed in their decisions. I suppose they quickly thought that Israel could overcome any obstacle it met regardless of Obama's leanings. After all, look how many wars it had come through since 1948. Some even may have thought that Ha-Shem would protect. The outcome was that most Jews voted Democratically in the last election. Israel is having one heck of a time being pressured to lose Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria. It has already lost Gaza which it really didn't want in the first place but found it placed in their lap. The goal of the surrounding Arabs and especially the Palestinians is to get rid of Israel, and they are closer now than ever with Iran threatening Israel with an atomic missile. Most of the world is of course not assisting Israel. They really didn't want its creation in the first place, except the Evangelical Christians who are most supportive.
My sincere thoughts are this. Israel was created in my lifetime after 2,000 years of lying dormant. This is a time spoken of in the past. It's a revival period of our ancestor's home and our history. We are the ones that are responsible for its continuation. This heavy responsibility is ours now. We were the leaders of conscience being the mother religion with Christianity and Muslims as the children. What are we doing about its life?
Resource: Why Are Jews Liberals by Norman Podhoretz-opinion: Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203440104574402591116901498.html
Why Are Jews Liberals-A Symposium: Commentary Magazine- look for Jeff Jacoby's article-also David Wolpe, Jonathan D. Sarna, Michael Medved, William Kristol wrote articles there. http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/why-are-jews-liberals-a-symposium-15223
We've been very loyal to Roosevelt's party. Now we've had 65 years of living peacefully in the United States, which is quite a stretch for us Jews. We've come from being kept out of organizations because of our religion to being accepted. We were kept out of jobs and schools and now find ourselves just one of the guys. Life has become good. That's almost three generations from Europe and pogroms and the holocaust. Our present generation knows very little about our past unless the parents were directly involved with past events. Our school systems do not dwell on this part of history, so our children just have not become impacted by it. How many attend Sunday School and even listen to the history portion in class? Being a past teacher and Sunday School teacher in Oregon, I know that very little has reached our young citizens.
I was on the Democratic Party's inner circle in Eastern Oregon, and even had a a party after an election before 1980 when our man won. I graciously invited my mother to the party even though she was a rebel and had voted Republican. I never considered ever voting Republican. She said she was more interested in what they stood for and not the party. She really investigated them. Her vote cancelled out my father's vote, but they learned to live with it.
When it came to voting again in this election, I found Democrats to be so engrossed in the identification of being a Democrat that they did not consider Israel's life at all. They were appalled at being questioned about it. The fact that the Bush Era had been such a mess determined their judgements. Anything to get away from the Republicans was their thinking in my opinion. Their thoughts were the same as most Americans. Stop the war. Save the soldiers. Obama was such an artful speaker. Who could argue against him? The world loved him. He was good for America and would be the first black president. Voters were more interested in saving the planet and going green than rescuing Israel.
I am an American with dual citizenship with Israel. I lived there for over five years teaching English as a Foreign Language in Safed. It was amazing to check with my mother back home in Oregon to find that what was happening in Israel was not reported in her papers. Obviously, the reporters were only interested in anything that showed how bad Israel was instead of all the horrid things happening to her or mention the good things it was creating and sharing with the world. It was depressing to find that prejudice existed again after our revival of support in 1967.
There were so many indications that Obama would not be supportive of Israel if elected, but most Democratic Jews that I knew would not read or consider the findings and possibilities. Israel was outweighed in their decisions. I suppose they quickly thought that Israel could overcome any obstacle it met regardless of Obama's leanings. After all, look how many wars it had come through since 1948. Some even may have thought that Ha-Shem would protect. The outcome was that most Jews voted Democratically in the last election. Israel is having one heck of a time being pressured to lose Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria. It has already lost Gaza which it really didn't want in the first place but found it placed in their lap. The goal of the surrounding Arabs and especially the Palestinians is to get rid of Israel, and they are closer now than ever with Iran threatening Israel with an atomic missile. Most of the world is of course not assisting Israel. They really didn't want its creation in the first place, except the Evangelical Christians who are most supportive.
My sincere thoughts are this. Israel was created in my lifetime after 2,000 years of lying dormant. This is a time spoken of in the past. It's a revival period of our ancestor's home and our history. We are the ones that are responsible for its continuation. This heavy responsibility is ours now. We were the leaders of conscience being the mother religion with Christianity and Muslims as the children. What are we doing about its life?
Resource: Why Are Jews Liberals by Norman Podhoretz-opinion: Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203440104574402591116901498.html
Why Are Jews Liberals-A Symposium: Commentary Magazine- look for Jeff Jacoby's article-also David Wolpe, Jonathan D. Sarna, Michael Medved, William Kristol wrote articles there. http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/why-are-jews-liberals-a-symposium-15223
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