Why do so many Jews in the US vote Democrat?

[Sojourner]

 Given the prevalent anti-Israel sentiment among Democrats, and now Mayoral Democrat candidate Zohran Mamdani's defiant cheering on of a global intifada, why are so many Jews still supporting that party? Are there a lot of anti-Zionist Jews? What am I missing?

[Fenris]

I feel that there are two main causes.

The first is that historically, the political right, whether in the US or Europe, has harbored antisemitism. Things have changed, and so are voting patterns, but these things take time. Party loyalty doesn't go away in an instant.

Secondly, Jewish culture creates motivated people who want to change the world. Religious Jews do that by actualizing Jewish law to create a world in which God can dwell. Secular Jews don't avail themselves to that outlet and so try to "repair the world" via political leftism, which after all does promise (an unrealistic) better world.

Mamdani has a good chance of winning, but I do not believe that he will get many Jewish votes.

[Oscar_Kipling]

yeah, creating a world in which God can dwell is far more realistic getting actual police accountability....that's not even a joke.

[Fenris]

yeah, creating a world in which God can dwell

"Creating a world in which God can dwell" is the motivation for completing God's act of creation. Since we've been at it for 3,000 years now it's obviously not easily achievable, but it remains the mission.

is far more realistic getting actual police accountability....that's not even a joke.

These kinds of comments tend to come from those individuals who know nothing about law enforcement.

[Oscar_Kipling]

yeah, creating a world in which God can dwell

"Creating a world in which God can dwell" is the motivation for completing God's act of creation. Since we've been at it for 3,000 years now it's obviously not easily achievable, but it remains the mission.

well, you know, good luck. I guess.... Actually I have no idea what you mean by that, so your mission could very well work against my values and interests, so I won't wish you luck, but I wont begrudge you your right to define and pursue your own mission (or I suppose have it defined for you by your religious beliefs).

is far more realistic getting actual police accountability....that's not even a joke.

These kinds of comments tend to come from those individuals who know nothing about law enforcement.

I tend to think that people that know nothing about law enforcement fall on either side of this position, knowledge I've found is not the primary differential in a great many controversial positions. What I can say is that comments like yours tend to come from individuals that think that there is no accountability problem in law enforcement, or that the problems are negligible, diffuse and or outweighed by the value policing adds to society. But, yeah lets all keep pretending that dismissing each other as uninformed rubes isn't just a kabuki dance we do with each other to avoid taking each other's positions seriously....because if we did, ruh roh.

[Fenris]

well, you know, good luck. I guess.... Actually I have no idea what you mean by that, so your mission could very well work against my values and interests, so I won't wish you luck, but I wont begrudge you your right to define and pursue your own mission (or I suppose have it defined for you by your religious beliefs).

Your values are probably defined by the bible, whether you know it or not.

But, yeah lets all keep pretending that dismissing each other as uninformed rubes

I am not an uninformed rube, though. I had an entire career in law enforcement.

[Oscar_Kipling]

well, you know, good luck. I guess.... Actually I have no idea what you mean by that, so your mission could very well work against my values and interests, so I won't wish you luck, but I wont begrudge you your right to define and pursue your own mission (or I suppose have it defined for you by your religious beliefs).

Your values are probably defined by the bible, whether you know it or not.

Well, be that as it may, I still don't know what "Creating a world in which God can dwell" actually entails according to Fenris.

But, yeah lets all keep pretending that dismissing each other as uninformed rubes

I am not an uninformed rube, though. I had an entire career in law enforcement.

I do not believe you are a rube, I also recall that you were law enforcement. And if I remember correctly, something about being a mathematician or studying math (coincidentally that's why I thought you'd enjoy my analogy about fluxions and Newton back in that other thread, but maybe I had you confused with someone else)?

Regardless, once again, I don't think you are uninformed. I do not believe that our disagreement lies in the fact that one of us severely outclasses the other in the relevant areas of knowledge.

[Fenris]

Some pertinent polling data from Jewish students at Ivy League schools:

Since the anti Israel encampments went up on Ivy league campuses, the percent of Jewish students who identified as "very liberal" went from 40% to 13%, and "strong Democrats" went from 37% to 14%.

That's what being harassed every day on account of your identity will do to a person.

[Sojourner]

I'd like to see a comparable percentage drop nationally. (It's a possibility as Democrats continue to show their true colors).

[teddyv]

[Fenris]

The comic has nothing to do with the topic at hand.

The Democrat party has members that are anti-semitic. Because the party as a whole is not speaking out against them or marginalizing them, their viewpoints are becoming mainstream in the party. This should bother not just Jews but Americans as a whole. And yet.

[Athanasius]

That recent Jubilee video makes it look like "the question isn't why would anyone vote Democrat", but "the question is, what in the world is happening to the social fabric of the United States?"

[RabbiKnife]

That recent Jubilee video makes it look like "the question isn't why would anyone vote Democrat", but "the question is, what in the world is happening to the social fabric of the United States?"

Same thing that the UK is experiencing along with Europe.

Tribalism.

[Fenris]

"the question is, what in the world is happening to the social fabric of the United States?"

This is a fair question.

With regards to the topic here, antisemitism is the symptom, not the disease. As Rabbi Sacks used to say, a society that has no room for Jews has no room for anybody being different. There's also an older saying about Jews being the canary in the coal mine of civilization; when things get bad for the Jews, they're going to get bad for a lot of other people soon after.

[Sojourner]

The Democrat party has members that are anti-semitic. Because the party as a whole is not speaking out against them or marginalizing them, their viewpoints are becoming mainstream in the party. This should bother not just Jews but Americans as a whole. And yet.

Qui tacet consentire videtur. "He that is silent is understood to consent."