Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

Unlike nearly every other group that came to America got an education and found success the jews still vote like illegal aliens. Although fear of christians may have been a good reason in the middle ages, the continued support of ultra-liberal causes causes middle class jews more harm than good. It doesn't make sense to me either.

When you see how quickly the very groups jews helped and supported turn on them, it's amazing there are jews who march in lockstep with blacks and immigrants. Norman Podhoretz has a (hard to get through) book- why are jews liberals? that attempts to explain this. He makes the very valid point that these days most jews have many more threats on the left than from the right, yet they refuse to see this fact. Irrational, indeed!

Actually it all makes perfect sense if you understand that much of what we do is really motivated at the level of symbols.

Jews are in the awkward position of being one of the most potent symbols in all of human history. They are the Chosen People of God. They are the symbol of the obligation of all men to serve God.

The hatred of Jews by Leftists is irrational on the surface level but reasonable on the symbolic level, since Leftism has become mostly a cover for nihilism and extreme individualism, divorced from obligations to morality and higher things.

And most Jews themselves would like to get out from under their inherited obligation to "bear the yoke of Torah." But they find it culturally difficult to just be indifferent, so Leftism has become a substitute religion. Likewise the "pro-choice" ideology, which is very common among Jews serves as a symbolic rejection of God.

I have an Orthodox Jewish friend who can't understand it either. Especially in light of this Administrations unwillingness to defend Israel (by extension, if he is cozying up to Iran, he is not defending Israel).

It's all part of Bizarro World.

I'm not a member of the tribe, but this question has fascinated me for a long time. Most of my childhood friends were liberal Jews. As we've become older, they've stayed liberal (or have slid even closer to the dark side) as I've become conservative. I can't fathom the static nature of their worldview nor can they my sounding like "a right-wing rabbi." (By stark contrast, perhaps.) While the "I didn't leave the Democratic Party, it left me" refrain reflected my parents' uneasy conversion, tradition had no such grasp on me as I felt the party didn't leave me ... it chased me out. If anybody finds the answer to this question, I'd sure like to hear it.

Based on my own experience with Jews (I'm Catholic who went to BU grad school if you get my point), I really don't think fear of Christians is the reason. There are still unintentional condescending attitudes among Christians that they are unaware of but nothing that should cause fear among Jews. It's just passive ignorance. Besides, the Jews I've known have generally been very sophisticated about this as well as the very roots of anti-Semitism itself.

I think it's probably more a remnant of the WWII/FDR/Truman era when the world's Jewish population was facing their gravest peril in history and FDR resisted the strident forces of anti-Semitism to open up America to receiving so many European refugees. I believe that this experience was so intense that these loyalties became embedded throughout the American Jewish culture and have carried forward to this day. I am sure that the WWII stories about family experiences told at Jewish dinner tables throughout the years have contained very, very few Republicans.

Likely it is a confluence of historical factors:

1. The vague association of Antisemitism with Christianity, via deep cultural memory (and perhaps some residue of the on-and-off again historical antagonism between Christianity and Judaism), and the association of Christianity with the GOP.

2. Many radical, Marxist and Leftist intellectuals came from the Jewish intelligentsia. Medieval Jews, pushed from artisan and craft trades, were forced to excel in trade, finance, law, and medicine. And with tightly clustered communities where an emphasis was placed on rabbinic studies, you had high literacy rates and a good deal of scholarship, which would pay dividends in later centuries with great minds like Spinoza.

Perhaps standing somewhat apart from the Latin West's Christian intellectual tradition led to a self-perception as outsiders, which was translated into a flirtation with radical philosophies and ideologies? In any case, the history of Leftist intellectualism includes many Jewish thinkers, which may have had a trickle down effect.

3. Pasadenaphil makes a very perceptive point and that no doubt has something to do with it.

After much consideration, here is my opinion. Many of the most "intellectual" people throughout more modern history have either been founders or great followers of Marxism. Many, if not most, were Jewish, or atheists of Jewish descent. Examples besides Marx include Freud, Lenin, Ferdinand Lasalle. (reference here: http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=873&letter=S)

Socialism and Marxism were the intellectual-elite political and social foundation since around 1850 in Europe, when monarchies were dying. The feudal structure is very similar to the totalitarian or dictatorial power structure; in Europe, it is a natural move toward "secular" or "non-heredity/descendant" leaders. Prussia and Von Moltke give an example of this progression in European leadership and political structure, although not all were as militaristic.

As many Jews fled the wars in Europe, or sought prosperity and freedom in the US, sometimes due to persecution or oppression (both political and religious), they brought their Socialism with them. Look at the Progressive history in the US, started in Wisconsin, to discover more about the roots of Progressivism. Often these intellectuals became professors at exclusive private schools and universities - many of them had been professors in Europe before coming to America. Teaching their Socialism and progressive ideas at the university influenced many, such as Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Prussian and European Socialist and Marxist ideas permeated much of the Jewish population in Russia, as well. Many Socialist Jews were strong supporters of the Bolshivek Revolution, to their ultimate peril under Stalin. Also, after Stalin began his aggressive push to make the world Communist, exporting Marxists all over Europe and the US to spread the propaganda of "Soviet superiority" it was tough to fight against the attraction of his fabricated success; in the book The Forgotten Man, Amity Shlaes goes into this in great detail.

I am only a layman historian; however, after much reading and ruminating, I believe overall that the Socialist bent of Jewish people today has its roots in this past, and has been perpetuated in the university system, especially since the 1920's. PasadenaPhil and David Marcoe make excellent points, but I believe it is a combination of these things that explains why Jewish people are attracted to Socialism, Progressivism, Liberalism - in the modern definition.

I have relatives who are Jewish who are liberal Democrats, living in New York. After talking to them about this, they convey the Socialist philosophy without necessarily claiming they are Socialists. In fact, they are very highly educated people, having attended Ivy league universities, attaining PhD's and advanced degrees; they are working as financial analysts in very Capitalist-oriented jobs. Yet they still espouse Socialism. They don't see why there is any conflict - or any reason to stop the "progressive path toward Socialism."

Actually, the point is that religious Jews are indeed more conservative (politically). It is those Jews who have rejected religion that follow the "religion" of liberalism. The atheist is really a member of the most dogmatic of all religions and when a Jew insists on abandoning the religion of his forefathers, he will join the religion of his enemies. In our modern times, this religion is that of the left. Thus, thos Jews that insist on voting Democrat, no matter how "bad for the Jews" Democrat policies are, is just following the messianic feelings that are a part of his makeup.

The worship of FDR in spite of the fact that he actually refused to attempt to rescue the victims of the holocaust (such as refusing to bomb Auschwitz as requested by the inmates themselves, or accept Jewish refugees when it was possible) is part of this.

As the first Republican Jew in my family (I'm 52), and still the only one who admits it, I think there is an awful lot of over-analysis here. The most accurate part, and still the number one reason, is that Jews have been a Democratic constituency for generations, for 3 reasons: 1)Urban Northeastern and Midwestern Jews voted in cities where everyone was Democratic; 2) Ditto Southern Jews, regardless of area; and 3)there and pretty much everywhere else the Republican party was not welcoming to Jews and the Dems were.

There are many reasons this habit persists, but the three that I belive are strongest are:

1) Lack of a compelling personal reason to change. The Jews that do change to the Republicans do so for the various reasons everyone else does, but absent some compelling event, stasis is natural.

2) On the flip side, a compelling reason to remain Democrat. Jews are overrepresented in naturally Democratic constituencies: Law, "Education," Social Work, etc.

3) Social rejection and complications. Trust me on this one. There are plenty of stories. The good part of this is that it also skews the polls. The Jewish Republican/Conservative vote side is always undercounted, because there is a % of Jewish voters who will never admit to anyone, even pollsters if there is the slightest chance they could be overheard. The one exception is that they secretly tell those Jews who are out of the closet. Again, trust me on this one.

Juba: No doubt desth wish/survivors guilt is part of it. I suspect the reasons are many and deeply ingrained in the culture and, as such, may not even be understood.

One thing that has improved in my lifetime has been the general attitude of conservative Christians towards other Christians and Jews. When I was young, we had a schizoid attitude--one one hand "Jews killed Christ" and on the other hand "Christ was a Jew". I don't recall it being particularly anti-Semitic, just peculiar to a ten year old.

Interestingly, I have an in-law that is a Messianic Jew--a Jew that is a follower of Christ. After all, that is what Christianity started off as--a Jewish sect.

Today, with all Judeo-Christian variants under attack, there seems to be more of a "we have much more in common than separates us." I hope so, since it is true. As an unbeliever, I see it from the outside, but that is my perception.

It is clearly true that the best friend the nation of Israel has is the conservative Christian community in the US--perhaps the only friend.

There are things beyond my understanding. This is one.

BTW, I reject the FDR hypothesis. FDR was no particular friend of Jewry. They are, as a group, well educated enough to see that.

Excellent comments!

The phenomenon of Very Bright People thinking that they are sufficiently good and wise to govern the rest of us is not limited to Jews. See, for example, Paul Johnson's "Intellectuals".

But simultaneously embracing "I don't trust government" and "I want more government" is a great example of cognitive dissonance.

It seems that in all groups, once the fear "our tribe is in danger" is activated, it must settle on some other group as the probable cause. Even if the real danger is elsewhere, they can't see it. We see the danger of the thug, not the Don or druglord running the show. Sizing up immediate threats was an evolutionary necessity - we are less good at indirect dangers. That's not so much Jewish behavior as group behavior. When Jews describe their fear that conservative Christians might turn on them and actually become the most dangerous rather than the best ally, two related topics come up: attempts at evangelism are an attempt to weaken Jewish numbers, and the uneducated louts remind them of the violent peasants of Europe.

But intermarriage with the non-evangelizing Christian sects is a far greater danger to Jewish numbers, and the police and peasants were not the instigators of antisemitic violence in central and eastern Europe. The students, philosophers, and poets did that.

I offer that not as any complete explanation of Jewish liberalism, but as an addition to the excellent comments here.