(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Preserving Jewish values: the case for voting against Trump [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-09-24 A Jewish New Yorker, a good friend and thoughtful man, asked me to share the following: “To some of my Jewish brothers and sisters - You tell me the Democrats are the party of antisemites. I tell you today’s Republican Party is the party of Nazis. And Jews don’t let other Jews vote for Nazis. If they get in, God forbid, what makes you think they won’t eventually come for us? How do I know that they would? Because they always do.” I am not Jewish. But his clear opinion and stark warning made me wonder two things. First, why do Jews who vote for Republicans do so? Second, is he right — could it happen here? The following diary is based on a conversation we had about these two questions. In answer to the first, I think the reasons Jews vote for the GOP fall into two categories. One, conservative Jews vote Republican for the same reasons other conservative Americans do. They are attracted to GOP rhetoric on low taxes and light regulation, securing the border, a balanced budget, social orthodoxy, national defense, law & order - ie all the things the GOP promises. And which it delivers with varying degrees of failure. Two, they are attracted by the GOP’s unconditional support for Israel and their belief that the Democrats are pro-Palestinian at best, Hamas-enabling at worst. Jews are traditionally more liberal than conservative - with anywhere from 69% voting for the Democratic presidential nominee (2016) to 79% (2000). In 2020, 77% of the Jewish vote went to Biden. However, since the Hamas invasion of Israel killed 1,139 Israelis and foreign nationals and resulted in 251 hostages taken, conservative Jewish organizations led by AIPAC have increasingly entertained support for the Republican Party - despite the GOP’s eager embrace of authoritarianism in the MAGA age. This raises a question. Is it a good strategy for a historically demonized people to promote the political ambitions of psychopaths and racists? Jews have been socially marginalized, economically devastated, and even massacred by fear-mongering autocrats. Even in liberal democracies Jews have historically been barred from white-shoe law firms, WASP banks, restricted housing, and country clubs - an aggressive antisemitism unsparingly illustrated in 1947’s Best Picture, ‘A Gentleman's Agreement’. Bearing that in mind, let’s consider if the Democrats are ‘weaker’ on Israel. Hardly. They have continued America’s military aid to the Jewish State - despite some conversation about holding back funds if Bibi Netanyahu continues the policies that have caused thousands of civilian deaths, including children, in the Gaza Strip. Policies that tens of thousands of Israelis have demonstrated against for the simple reason that these policies do not advance what should be the North Star of Israeli policy - the return of the hostages. Bibi is to Israel what Trump is to the US. They may wave the flag but their aims are self-serving (both are trying to stay out of jail). Jews should also consider that while conservative American evangelicals talk a good game on Israel their aim is literally apocalyptic. New Testament eschatology rooted in the New Testament book Apocalypse demands that the Biblical state of Israel be reestablished under Jewish control before Jesus can return, the Rapture takes place, the Day of Judgement occur and End Times be realized - with the ultimate goal of all good Christians going to heaven. What evangelicals don’t mention is that this vision of eternal bliss mandates that all Jews - their usefulness expired - be damned to the pits of hell. (That is the way these dangerous Christian nutters talk) Any analysis of fundamentalist Christian exegesis contains a stark warning. No Jew should think a conservative evangelical gives a damn about them. This raises another question, is the Nazi talk too extreme? I hope so. But Jews, as well as every other minority should assume it is not. If in 1926 you told German Jews, or even Germans in general, that their type government would execute 6 million Jews within 20 years, they would have thought you were a lunatic. The Holocaust was not unique. Pogroms and Jewish genocide have been official and unofficial policy in many Christian countries for 17 centuries - is it logical to assume that somehow the 21st century will be different? Let’s say for the sake of argument it is. What would Jews have lost by voting for Democrats? No American, except the obscenely wealthy, would see their taxes increase. No religious freedom would be compromised. Quite the opposite. Christianity would not become America’s state religion. And by every economic metric - GDP, employment, wage growth, stock market performance - Americans, including Jewish Americans, have done better under Democratic administrations than Republican. Jews have historically been vocal advocates for society’s underdogs and have-nots. They were, and are, active in the struggle for civil rights. I imagine their history as the victims of oppression has honed their hatred of social injustice. And even secular Jews are heirs to a millennia-old religious tradition of care for both neighbors and strangers. All of this leads to one rational conclusion. I will let my friend, the man who inspired this essay, have the last word in summation: [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/9/24/2272025/-Preserving-Jewish-values-the-case-for-voting-against-Trump?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/