To My Fellow Jews...

Because of the sensitivity of this topic, I have reluctantly included a prologue: In no way is this post, which explores the pathological attraction that the left holds for a large segments of the Jewish community, meant to defame Jews. I am very proud of being Jewish and proud of the fact that that many of the greatest conservative thinkers (Friedman, Mises, Hayek, Bloom) are Jewish. The purpose of this post is to explore and refute the reasons why so many otherwise thoughtful and insightful Jews hold largely irrational reservations about conservative thought.

Within Judaism itself we frequently encounter a noble concern for the poor and even biblical prescriptions to help alleviate poverty, such as the commandment that farmers leave some of their fields unharvested so that the poor and hungry may eat from them. And historically, the majority of American Jews descend from immigrants who left the poor and often oppressive shtetls of imperial Russia. So, the prevalent concern for the poor and oppressed that we find in many Jews stems from the theological as well as historical experiences of Jewish communities. And as many Jews abandoned traditional religious practices, they channeled the ancient dreams of a messianic redemption of mankind towards their modern dreams of redemption by the revolutionary labors of the brotherhood of man.

The positive social impulse and the historical experiences of many Jews inclined them towards movements and politicians that sought to address poverty and other social ills. Hence, we encountered a major Jewish presence in communism, socialism and other reform movements. And given the fact that in autocratic and heavily statist Russia, wealth was not so much created by hard work and enterprise, as monopolized by hereditary nobles via their extensive land holdings, the redistributive rhetoric of left wing parties took deep hold in Jewish communities.

Since these parties and policies were revolutionary and had never been put into practice, they were especially attractive to idealistic Jews. But faced with the horrors of communism and the stagnation of socialism, most Jews abandoned these movements. But, the same positive social impulses were channeled towards "progressive" movements of the new left and hence we find a disproportionate presence of Jews in these movements. But, over time, a good number of intellectually honest Jews, such as the Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman, who assessed the real outcomes of interventionist policies, as opposed to their intended consequences, moved towards a vision of social and economic freedom within the context of limited government. And from his insightful critique of aspects of the social and cultural change that began in the 1960's, great minds like Professor Allan Bloom re-affirmed traditional Western and American values. Yet, the "progressive" political establishment maintains a powerful hold over Jewish voters as demonstrated through the nearly 80% of Jews who voted for Obama. Part of this stems from ignorance of basic economics, even among the educated elite and part of this stems from irrational and largely emotional factors, which we will address in the following paragraphs.

To start off with, the genocidal horrors of nazism and fascism left a deep scar in the Jewish psyche. Since many people wrongly label nazism as a conservative, many Jews are naturally very reserved about partaking in movements that carry the label "conservative." The problem with this is that in no way can nazism be considered a conservative movement, in fact fascist principles are greatly at odds with most conservative principles. Nazism was extremely hostile to Judaism and even Christianity, whereas the bulk of American Conservatives affirm the importance of Judeo-Christian culture and values. Fascism was based on a belief of unlimited state control over social and economic life, whereas American Conservatism stresses the importance of social and economic freedom within the context of limited government and constitutional rule. Contrary to popular beliefs, fascism was largely hostile to capitalism, instead believing in a powerful state that partners with large corporations via subsidies, bails-outs and government mandates, whereas most Conservatives are supportive of laissez-faire economics. So, it's essential that my fellow Jews purge themselves of irrational sentiments that equates conservatism with anti-Semitic fascism. In this day and age, the greatest potential threats to Jews are found in movements that are based on fomenting envy towards the successful and thinly veiled hostility towards the State of Israel.

For much of history, the bulk of the persecution of Jews stemmed from religious Christians. During this time, many Jews developed an instinctive distrust of religious Christians and Christianity that continues to this day, as demonstrated by the irrational rants of some Jewish acquaintances of mine about the dangers of the "Christian Right." I consider this impulse an "evolutionary throw back" that has not adjusted to a changing environment, because throughout American history Jewish experiences with religious Christians have been by historical standards overwhelmingly positive. And if anything, in modern America no group has demonstrated such unconditional affection towards Jews and Israel as religious Christians have. Even in Europe, conservatives and Christians have warmed up to Jews and the hostility we experience largely comes from Moslem immigrants and their left wing allies, who in many occasions cross the line from anti-Zionism, to anti-Semitism.

Admittedly a disproportionate amount of Conservative support is from rural, southern and mountain communities, which encourages many educated, intellectual Jews to irrationally equate conservatism with "red neck simpletons" Certain segments of the Republican Party have exacerbated this problem by actively marketing the "good ole' boy" ethos through terrible candidates like George W Bush, rather than candidates that eloquently extol the merits of economic freedom, fiscal conservatism, limited government, local sovereignty and core American values. Even if some members of the conservative rank-and-file are anti-intellectual, there is a rich tradition of great conservative thinkers like Burke, Bastiat, Smith, Jefferson, Tocqueville and Hayek. And even with the near monopoly of the left in academia, there are a growing number of sophisticated, thoughtful urban intellectuals who believe in core conservative values.

For most of history, Jews were a largely poor and oppressed "out-group" and to this day many modern Jews still do not feel comfortable with parties and movements that appear to represent wealthy, "in-groups," even if the difference between factions is based more on rhetoric than reality. For example, the Democratic Party is just as controlled by powerful moneyed interests as their Republican rivals, but the Democratic Party tends to utilize "progressive" and populist rhetoric. Even though modern America's unparalleled freedom has allowed Jews to economically and socially advance and integrate themselves into the upper echelons of society, many Jews cannot come to see themselves as truly part of the main stream. To vote for a conservative candidate would be out of the pale, because it would affirm that the economic and cultural interests of Jews are more in-synch with productive Americans rather that with less productive individuals and groups that agitate for redistributive policies.

My fellow Jews, it's time to shed your irrational attraction to "progressive" movements and irrational fear of conservatives. The unparalleled freedom, prosperity and opportunity that we have enjoyed in the United States are the products of a unique American vision, culture and institutions that are worth conserving. By supporting reckless, unsustainable "change" we risk economically and socially undermining this great nation that provided refuge to our people in our darkest hours. G-d bless America!