Dubya's Democrats

Written by Elizabeth Kaufman

Left-Wing Jews Duke it Out Over the GOP
For practically ever, GOP pollsters have predicted a massive increase in Jewish support for Republican presidential candidates–usually to no avail. Since the chosen people form only four percent of the electorate, and only around 15 percent of those have historically voted red, Jewpublicans have never been enough of a voting bloc for any presidential candidate to spend his time courting.

But this year, domestic terror and the war in Iraq just might have altered the priorities of pro-Israel American Jews. Despite the fact that Kerry mops the floor with Bush’s domestic agenda, the president’s support of Israel and his Batman-style vendetta against its not-so-well-wishers in the Middle East are pretty attractive to the pro-Israel crowd–who just so happen to be overrepresented in states like Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania, where Bush and Kerry are neck and neck.

The Bush camp is practically wetting itself with joy over the prospect of liberal Jews willing to look the other way on, well, pretty much everything, and cast a Republican ballot. But does such an animal even exist? New Voices searched high and low for a liberal Jew willing to admit that even though he’s not their cup of tea–and even though Kerry has an established history of voting pro-Israel–they’re planning to suck it up and vote Bush anyway.

After much laying of traps baited with cookies, we rounded up a spokesperson for each side: two students who hold Jewish values and support Israel, but who don’t see eye-to-eye on which candidate will best fulfill that agenda. We set them up in the New Voices parking lot to settle it old-school style, and transcribed their heated battle cries for your reading pleasure.

Maintaining Israel's Strength
By Elizabeth L. Kaufman

I disagree with George W. Bush on pretty much everything. I can’t stand his policies on education, the economy, or civil liberties. I oppose the war in Iraq. But throughout his term, Bush has extended an open hand to Israelis and has followed through on promises to support them. I don’t like Bush, but as a Jewish American who prioritizes American support of Israel, I think it is necessary to vote for him in the upcoming election.

When it comes to foreign policy, the President of the United States is the undisputed face of America. Checks and balances can help when it comes to keeping poor domestic policy from becoming law–which is why I support a Democratic Congress–but the President’s intentions are hard to override when it comes to foreign relations. I know that Bush promises to support Israel in the future, but more importantly, he’s proven himself in the past.

Ensuring that Bush acts in Israel’s interests are his political supporters. The folks forming the backbone of this year’s GOP campaign are Southern Baptists–the same Southern Baptists who send more money to Israel each year than American Jews. The same Southern Baptists who believe that the Messiah will not arrive without a Jewish homeland securely in place. They work hard to ensure Israel’s survival and prosperity by keeping it well-funded and militarily powerful. A victory for Bush ensures that this core group of dedicated Israel supporters will continue to have influence on the White House. That’s a virtual guarantee that the Jewish homeland will be viewed favorably by our nation’s leader.

And what about the Democrats? Their weak approach to Israel goes back years. I loved Clinton, but he was ineffective at helping Israel stand against its enemies. Yes, summits were held. Yes, people shook hands and kissed one another in stirring photo opportunities. But Clinton also legitimized the PLO and gave them political leverage. By validating these opponents to Israel, Clinton opened up the door to more violence against Israeli citizens, and the peace process he initiated ultimately collapsed.

Kerry’s outlook isn’t much different. Despite flowery rhetoric, the Democratic candidate offers no specific platform for Israel–and more importantly, he has no grasp of the complexities of a conflict as old as the land itself. Kerry talks vaguely about a Palestinian state, about freedom for Palestinians to live alongside Israelis. It’s as if he hasn’t been paying attention. Kerry’s hope that the land will be split peacefully is idealistic at best. He will further threaten an already troubled country by leading it to compromise with its enemies–those set on seeing Israel destroyed. To most of Israel’s Middle Eastern opponents, it’s all or none: the country must be completely destroyed. They don’t want to see a land-for-peace compromise. To them, there’s just no option of Palestine and Israel co-existing.

By focusing on peace through compromise, Kerry cannot ensure Israel’s secure existence. George W. Bush can.

A Jewish Vision for America
By Benjamin Eidelson

As Jews, we treasure the shared ethical tradition that is our common inheritance. These ethics define who we are because they inform the choices we make. As we select between competing visions for the future of America, Jewish tradition challenges us to put our ideals into practice. And contrary to the assumptions of many politicians and pundits, America’s stance on Israel is not the only “Jewish” issue in this election.

Healthcare and poverty are Jewish issues. Maimonides, himself a physician, taught that God creates food, water, and medicine, but that it is our responsibility to make them accessible. Today that obligation means making health insurance available to the 40 million Americans who cannot afford coverage. It means enacting a policy that views healthcare the way Jewish tradition does: as a right of all, not as a privilege of the wealthy.

Our rabbinic tradition recognizes poverty as a burden “outweighing all other afflictions in the world.” Jews developed the first public welfare system, called kuppah, in which everyone was taxed according to his or her ability to pay. Now, as we confront a concerted attack on America’s own social safety net, and an economic policy that targets for reduction those taxes which least affect the middle and lower classes—estate, corporate dividends, and federal income—we must renew our historic commitment to the progressive institutions of tzedakah.

Immigration is a Jewish issue. We are taught to identify with the predicament of outsiders in our midst, “for you know the heart of a stranger, as you yourselves were strangers in Egypt.” These words ring true today, as immigrants struggle to find their place in a society that attacks them as both too lazy and too industrious, a drain on public resources and a threat to out-compete “native” Americans. In their struggles, we recognize our own grandparents’ stories. In our choices, we can affirm that we still know the heart of a stranger.

Protecting civil liberties is a Jewish issue. Our tradition is rooted in constructive dissent, from the biblical prophets who condemned corruption among the kings of Israel to the Talmudic rabbis who ensured that minority opinions were carefully preserved. Moses ibn Ezra taught, “When a person refrains from speech, the ideas die, the soul stops, and the senses deteriorate.” Today free speech in America is threatened by corporate media that narrow debate and cynical leaders who foster public fear.

Pastor Martin Niemöller wrote that after he failed to speak out in defense of the Nazis’ first victims, “there was no one left to speak out for me.” Holocaust survivors learned that the fates of minority groups in society are intertwined. As Arab-American citizens are arrested without counsel, detained without probable cause, and tried with secret evidence, we should prove by our choices next month that we have learned that lesson as well.

It is natural and important that America’s relationship with Israel matter to us, and here too our actions should meet our ethical tradition’s standards—choosing dialogue over violence, recognizing the rights of all people, and seeking justice. This is the legacy of the Clinton-Rabin partnership a decade ago, and it is a model of American diplomacy that will bring security to Israel and the Palestinians. It is a Democratic tradition that John Kerry has embraced, with a 20-year “pro-Israel” voting record and a call for renewed American engagement in the peace process.

But even as we pursue our values in Israel, we must work to see them enacted here. The ethical center of Jewish law is how we relate to the orphan, the widow, and the stranger. Today this is our greatest challenge. Realizing John Kerry’s vision for America is a first step toward restoring the disadvantaged to their rightful place in our communities, and restoring progressive values to our society.

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Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.