Are American Jews Blind, or Just Stupid?

By: George

Being an outspoken advocate of Conservative Political Principles, and since I proudly display my Orthodox Jewish roots, I often get asked "Why did the majority of American Jews STILL vote for Obama"? This happens to be an excellent question, considering the apparent diminishing support of Israel by the Obama administration, while openly embracing the Muslim Brotherhood. We have a deteriorating American economy, burgeoning governmental debt, renewed racial tensions, and emaciated foreign policy projection. The answer, however, involves an exploration of the various multifaceted segments of the Jewish population, and their disparate motivations for their choices.
The Jewish population, while mostly practicing the same religion, is not very homogenous in their ideologies. This stems from their backgrounds, their upbringings and their current station in life.

Let's start first with a growing segment of Jews who are technologically savvy, who read and react to the raw news that they glean from non-mainstream sources. These Jews, such as myself, analyze the news, make up their mind based on both filtered and unfiltered facts, and in this case, I came to the realization that Obama is NOT a friend of the Jews.

But for this discussion we are discussing the majority of American Jews who still voted Democrat. In order to do so, we have to preface our discussion by iterating the various categories of the Jewish populace. Besides the core Orthodox Jews, there are also Conservative Jews (nothing to do with political beliefs), Reform Jews, Unaffiliated Jews, "Cardiac" Jews (they are Jews in their hearts), and Jews by birth only.

Of these various segments, a significant number of the latter groupings are "Self Hating Jews", who will take positions opposing those of the Orthodox Jewish beliefs. These people are knowingly Liberal, and they purposefully vote against accepted Jewish interests. The psychology driving these people probably warrants its own dissertation.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are many Jewish families who are in the "47%", who rely on governmental assistance for their sustenance due to large families and lack of sufficient income. They vote Liberal for their own immediate benefit.

That still leaves a large segment of Jews who don't fit into the aforementioned categories, who still vote Liberal. This is the segment that befuddles most observers. Why would they vote against their own interest? This is where we get into something that I call "the New York Times factor". Let me explain.

The Jews as a people are very charitable, not only because the Bible exhorts us to be so, but because it is ingrained in our DNA. Where there are people in need, we are there. The Jews were in the forefront in Selma during the struggle for black civil rights. They were leaders in the original Union movement to help the downtrodden workers. They became teachers to nurture the children, lawyers to champion against injustice, and doctors to heal and comfort the sick.

This caring and charitable trait even carried over to the State of Israel, in spite of what the worldwide media would like you to believe. When calamity strikes throughout the globe, the Israeli rescue teams are among the first on the scene. Earth quake in Haiti, Hurricane Sandy, Tsunamis, etc.. It is part of our genetic makeup to help people.

While Jews have been part of America since before its founding, a great influx of Jewish immigrants arrived to our shores in the years surrounding WWII. American partisan politics were never an important part in the lives of a significant segment of this growing Jewish community, but since they were loyal patriotic Americans, they treasured their right to vote. But how will they know who to vote for? The answer for this educated "People of the Book", was the Newspapers. More observant Jews read the Yiddish papers, while the "more worldly" ones settled on the prestigious New York Times as their guide to the issues and candidates. These became the papers they trusted to present them with candidates most in line with their Jewish charitable social views, and was also the reason why they embraced the Democrat Party.

Since then, the fabric of the American society has changed, and the "upstanding" New York Times and the Democrat Party have definitely changed. The above mentioned Jewish community, however, has changed a lot slower. They still place their confidence in the New York Times and sundry other left-leaning Yiddish newspapers for their political guidance.

So in a nutshell, this can help you understand why the voting went mostly Democrat. For the older people, the inertia is difficult to overcome, and if at the same time their trusted "beacon of truth" also vilifies the contender, they believe what they read, and become impossible to reorient. Trust me, I have tried with many "intelligent" professionals.

But the bright side is, that with Obama now totally destroying the economy and the American way of life, these intelligent people will finally figure it out. Of course by then, there will no longer be a "Bright Side".