← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Okiereddust
Thread ID: 7921 | Posts: 4 | Started: 2003-07-06
2003-07-06 21:05 | User Profile
[url=http://www.libertyforum.org/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=news_politics&Number=736289&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=21&part=]Jewsweek[/url]
[img]http://jewsweek.com/Static/Binaries/Article/jewpublicansinside_1.jpg[/img]
Young Jews are more politically savvy than ever, and they're also willing to break with some of the taboos of Jewish politics. Their newfound diversity will change the Jewish voice of a generation.
Shannon Sarna is an anomaly as she walks along the devoutly liberal Smith College in Massachusetts. Diminutive in height but overflowing with passion, she's pro-Israel and conservative on foreign policy. She's helped bring figures like uber right-winger Ann Coulter to campus. She's also an observant Jew, which means she's more than anomalous to her college. She's a minority within the Jewish community as well.
Nevertheless, she's finding more and more like-minded Jews throughout America. Their increasing acceptance in Jewish political discussion is marking a new generation of chosen people. Today, young Jews are struggling with the issue of political priorities and are turning up more conservatives in a community that has traditionally been a liberal bulwark. In contrast to their parents and grandparents, such conservatives are increasingly welcomed and even expected.
The buzz over a conservative shift in the Jewish community has made political headlines ever since President Bush began flexing some serious pro-Israel muscle, but a recent survey, released by Ipsos Public Affairs in conjunction with the respected Cook Political Report, has attempted to debunk that argument. Its results show that Jews remain staunchly Democratic and criticize the president at levels far beyond that of the average electorate.
Considering that Jews make up a major chunk of political donations and turn out in larger numbers than the rest of Americans, it's not surprising that political pundits are interested in a voting shift, whether it exists or not. But the debate over numbers and votes is largely beside the point.
Increasing numbers of Jews are growing more comfortable supporting conservative policies, and the ostracism that came with that just a few years ago is no longer as potent. While it may not reflect a major shift from Democratic to Republican, the next generation of Jews will be expressing itself in increasingly diverse political ways, and it's that discussion more than voting trends that will define Jewish politics for years to come.
Survey says...
The Ipsos survey, featuring a +/-4.6 percent margin of error on the Jewish sample and taken from twice monthly polls conducted over the past year and a half, sought to settle the debate and show that Democrats don't have much to worry about when it comes to Jewish support. To that end, its findings show Jews continue to oppose Bush twenty percent more than the rest of the country.
Among Jews, the president only manages approval ratings in the low thirties on domestic and economic policies. His coattails aren't showing much in the way of the Jewish vote either. A general congressional ballot shows Jews voting for Democrats nearly forty percent more than Republican candidates, and party affiliation shows Jews identify as Republican only around twenty percent of the time, with a scant eight percent as strong Republicans.
But the focus on numbers serves to dilute the impact of the survey, and there are some caveats to the findings. Bush's approval rating on foreign policy, where his support for Israel and policies against terrorism come into play, put him at sixty percent among Jews. That's only ten percent behind the national average, and probably has something to do with his roughly even overall approval among Jews. Nevertheless, only a quarter of Jews would definitely re-elect him and upwards of forty percent would definitely choose someone else.
Moreover, it's difficult to read too much into the poll, because it lacks previous research to use as comparison. For example, while the Jewish community may support Democrats 64-26, but is that down from an 80 percent support for Democrats a few years ago? There's no way to tell, but the report is still clear evidence of Jewish support for the Democratic Party.
"While we have no previous data using this methodology, we do have this data, and these results standing alone are clear -- Jews are far more Democratic and far less likely to vote for Bush than all voters," says Thomas Riehle, president of Ipsos U.S. Public Affairs.
Still he cautioned against "over-interpreting the data." "To date, Bush appears to have made little headway among Jewish voters in terms of party identification or intentions to reelect Bush," Riehle told Jewsweek. "Whether he will succeed in doing so over the next 15 months before November 2004, we cannot say."
Beyond the polls and politicians
The Ipsos poll is hardly putting the debate to rest, however, probably because the debate isn't about numbers or whether Jews are still Democratic bulwarks. Even the most conservative of Jews aren't claiming a seismic shift or predicting droves of Jews will flock into the arms of the GOP. That just isn't what the discussion is about.
"Sometimes I suspect that people, some individuals, practice their religion by voting Democrat," says Lisa Gimbel, a conservative Republican Jew. She worked on the successful senatorial campaign of Saxby Chambliss, a highly conservative Republican from Georgia. "Because I vote Republican," she adds, "that does not make me any less of a Jewish person and vice-versa. Somebody who votes Democrat isn't any more loyal to the Jewish religion than somebody who votes Republican."
Nonetheless, for years many in the Jewish community would've respectfully (or not so respectfully) disagreed with Gimbel. Ronald Reagan grabbed more than thirty percent of the Jewish vote in 1980, but that was anomalous. The last time a Republican presidential candidate garnered a relative majority of Jewish voters was 1920, and post-Reagan Republicans have had even less success with Jews.
When asked whether some Jews might see her, a Republican in their midst, as a betrayer of the faith, Gimbel concurred. "I think some people might see it that way," she says.
Michael Landis, a graduate in political science from the University of Georgia who's active in the Jewish community, echoes that sentiment. When liberal Jews argue that Judaism backs liberal causes, "It is annoying more than anything else," says Landis. "I am a knowledgeable Jew and am very knowledgeable about politics. For someone to say as a Jew I feel compelled to vote this way or, 'You are Jewish; How can you be a Republican,' well that just bugs me."
Conservative Jews surrounded by a largely liberal community has been par for the course, but as more and younger Jews embrace the Republican Party, some are hoping that might change. Gimbel is confident in the face of Jewish preference for Democrats. "I'm very comfortable being a minority within a minority," says the young Republican.
Sarna, however, is less comfortable. "It sucks," she says of being a more conservative voice in a sea of liberals. As she walks the extremely liberal Smith campus, however, she is perhaps faced with that reality more often than some. Nonetheless, she's argued that holding a minority opinion has forced her to strengthen her leadership skills and speak up for herself.
All of which may be why more conservative Jewish voices are finding the time to pipe up despite their status as the smaller cadre of chosen ones. If the trend picks up, the numbers of Jews willing to pull a lever for a Republican candidate won't matter as much as the numbers of Jews willing to open their mouths for Republican causes.
The liberals left over
But if conservatism is the new chic in Jewish politics, liberals aren't going to let themselves be edged out too easily. Lauren Slawsky, who works as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C., argues passionately for liberal causes even while rejecting the liberal label.
"'Liberal,' like 'feminism,' have an unearned negative connotation. And I'm not a big fan of labels," she says, but then she adds, "Personally, my opinions seem the logical conclusions to our world's shortcomings. It just doesn't seem democratic, with a small 'd,' that a government can tell me how to practice birth control or mandate that my tax dollars can support a homeless shelter that proselytizes in between the soup and the salad courses."
In no way a knee-jerk liberal, the 20-something Slawsky still represents something of the old guard in Jewish politics. As she speaks about the future of Jewish politics, she almost takes for granted that Republicans are anathema to Jewish ideals. "Our Jewish mothers taught us better than to give up on the Jewish imperative of tikkun olam. We learn from an early age that we are all responsible for each other, for better or worse," she says and immediately concludes the Jewish community will stick to a center-left political voice.
It goes without saying that conservative Jews might want to argue about whether or not left-wing politics is the only way to fulfill tikkun olam, and liberal Jews like Lee Mendelson are increasingly willing to listen. Mendelson, a self-described lifelong Democrat who served in the Clinton White House considers himself socially liberal but, "I have been thinking more and more like a conservative."
Even so, Mendelson argues, "The Bush administration does seem to see more eye to eye with the Sharon government than do the Democrats, however, this does mean that Democrats are not in line with the feeling of average American Jews or Israelis."
When pressed on why he identifies with Democrats, Mendelson points to the extremists on both sides. "I guess I would chose Democrats over Republicans because the people I have always felt that those on the left wing fringes of the Democratic party are not as dangerous as those on the right wing fringes of the Republicans."
In that, Mendelson represents an old Jewish political fear that right-wing extremists would attempt to impose Christian religious values via legislation. But like most Jews of his generation, Mendelson is willing to do something his grandparents might have considered unthinkable -- acknowledge a conservative alternative.
The roots of the shift
Indeed, by listening to the voices of the young and politically savvy chosen ones, it's possible to see why, despite the numbers and talking heads in D.C., there remains so much buzz about conservative Jews. Put simply, their perspective is being accepted in the discussion that goes on even when it isn't an election year.
The reasons for that are myriad. Gimbel points out one trend, that of increasing acceptance with religion. "Religion does not make me uncomfortable," she says. "I'm not threatened by other people's religion." The irony is that candidacies like that of observant Jew Joe Lieberman, a Democrat, that have helped tear down this aversion to overt religion in political discourse.
Slawsky, for her part, rejects any role for religion in politics. "Constitutionally mandated separation of church and state applies to Judaism as well as to every other religion," she argues. "No religion and politics." But while she draws the line at encroachments on the legal separation between religion and government, she is open to religion in public life.
"I recognize that there are principles of religion that guide much of our secular lives," she says. "These are socially accepted truths and, consequently, reflect many religious imperatives."
Moreover, Slawsky laments the overly hostile reaction that some Jews have towards those who break with the mainstream, be they conservative or liberal. "The concept of community and allegiance has been imbued into our generation. If one of us defers from the fray, God forbid," she says with a tinge of sarcasm, "we feel as though they have abandoned the entire Jewish people!"
More conservative Jews such as Sarna are welcoming that new openness, even while they write off Jews who espouse left-wing views on Israel. Sarna spoke of Jewish critics of Israel as "well intentioned, but they don't understand enough." She adds, "People who think they are using Judaism as a source for their liberal, anti-Israel views either don't know enough about the conlfict, don't know enough about Judaism, or are choosing to ignore some pretty key parts."
Liberal voices like Slawsky take issue with that just as conservatives wrestle for recognition and acceptance in the liberal Jewish mainstream. "I think its hard," she laments, "for Jews to defer from the mainstream at a formative age, particularly on such a touchy issue as Israel."
The future today
Despite the dispute, the debate is at least taking place. The willingness of young Jews to have that discussion with the recriminations that were attached to conservative Jews in the past may be infinitely more significant to the future of this generation's political voice than September 11th or any crisis in Israel. It may never be enough to turn the majority of Jews into Republican voters, but it does signal a more diverse Jewish voice that politicians from either party can never take for granted.
"[The Jewish] vote should not be a bloc whose vote is taken for granted," says Gimbel. "A Democrat likewise shouldn't take Jewish votes for granted and not work hard for them." She shouldn't worry. With the increase in high-profile Jewish voices on the right of the political spectrum, the Democratic Party probably can't take Jews for granted anymore.
As for Landis, he sees the Jewish community as an exemplar. "We are small in number, but disproportionately loud in our voice. If I was a member of another community, I would point to the Jewish community and say, 'We need to do that.'" He adds, "I am biased to say I hope the Jewish community becomes more conservative, but I think you will never see more than 30 percent of Jews vote Republican."
Nevertheless, the increase in conservative voices, combined with the disproportionately loud quality of Jewish expression may help offset the demographics of a shrinking Jewish population. Whatever happens, and nobody is able to predict for sure, the words of Gimbel best sum up the climate of young Jewish politics.
thoughtcriminal writes: "Bradford R. Pilcher is a staff writer and contributing columnist to Jewsweek Magazine. Over the past few years, he's been active in countering Holocaust denial and developing Israel education programs on his Web site Learningisrael.com."
2003-07-06 21:17 | User Profile
Boy that thoughtcriminal is a prick!
2003-07-06 21:32 | User Profile
Note the photo: the Israeli flag outflanks the Stars and Stripes, 3 to 2.
On Earth as it is in Hell.
2003-07-06 21:37 | User Profile
"Jewpublicans" is a correct term.
Actually, today's Republican Party is full of Jews, at the highest level. Demo, Repub, same difference: each party is a whore for Jewish interests. The Repubs serve up Zionism and wars-for-Israel, the Demos serve up liberalism and feminism. Each feature is Good For Jews [tm].
Amerikwa 2003: a Yiddish production, aided by certain "right-wing" non-Yiddish [whom I won't name, but they know who they are]... :angry: :angry: