Jewish Liberal Values vs Secular Liberal Values
OR
Why Jewish Moderate Liberals Should Vote For a Moderate Conservative
 
'Jewish' is not the same as 'secular'. That's obvious. But it seems surprising to people that Jewish liberal values are NOT the same as secular liberal values.
Some examples: In Judaism’s view the highest form of charity is NOT giving charity to poor people, but rather making sure that people have jobs so that they don’t become poor! Giving someone a job, or giving them the encouragement, education and training they need to get a job so that they can be self-sufficient and live in dignity is the greatest form of charity. Only if we haven’t discharged our duty as we should will people become truly poor and need our handouts. And even then, we should be helping them to find work rather than being dependent on ‘charity’.
Judaism doesn’t believe in ‘finders keepers losers weepers’. This is not a great surprise, but it may surprise people to hear that we also don’t believe in bringing an item to a lost-and-found. Instead Jewish law requires one to make active efforts to locate the owner of a lost object.
Of course a secular person or atheist can adopt this way of doing things, and perhaps other religions have them values as well, but these ARE authentic Jewish values..
If you are proud of your middle-of-the-road Jewish liberal world-view and want to vote in the spirit of Jewish values, then the distinction between Jewish and secular liberal values is crucial.
And when it come to voting, doing so in accordance with Jewish liberal values does NOT mean voting for a party with secular or atheistic liberal values.

Extreme Jewish liberals will have you believe that the choice is between being Jewish and caring about social values and therefore voting Democrat, or being selfish, voting according to one’s own economic/social benefit and voting Republican. The truth is different: Both parties care about the same things, they just have different ideas about the best way to achieve them. The choice is not between idealism and selfishness but between between policies which reflect Jewish values as the Democratic party sees matters or as the Republican party sees it.

The Left demonizes Republicans: that they don’t care about the poor, the weak elements of society, that their policies are geared to help the rich make more money, that they seek political office in order to further their own interests at the expense of the majority. These are also the kinds of ‘conspiracy’ lies told about the Jews, that we are rich and exploit the poor and want to dominate. It is simply not true: just because many Jews/Republicans are wealthy does not mean they exploit or want to dominate and impose legislation for their own selfish benefit. The same for other Republicans
An important Jewish value is to ‘judge favorably’; as moderate liberal Jews we should take the Republicans at their word and not seek nefarious motives for their actions.
Extreme liberals would have you believe that the choice is between helping the poor and therefore voting Democratic, or helping the rich and therefore voting Republican. This is simply demagoguery: Republicans DO care about the poor. The issue is HOW to help the poor. Everyone, Republican or Democrat believes that the poor should be helped, and that the rich have to help more than the middle class. The only question is whether to help the poor by giving handouts via government programs as many Democrats traditioanlly favored, or via a moderate Conservative approach, by helping people retrain for new types of jobs, helping them educate themselves towards qualifying for more advanced jobs, prodding some who are used to Welfare to get jobs instead ('tough love'), by stimulating the economy, and creating conditions which allow wealthy individuals to use their wealth and initiative to invest and create new industries which create jobs.

There are other ways in which the conservative approach is very much in tune with Jewish values. Judaism commands us all to be involved PERSONALLY in helping the less fortunate. Just as a parent substituting money for love is inappropriate, so too it is inappropriate for us to delegate helping the poor solely to the government. In addition, Jewish values require us to be involved as a COMMUNITY. We and our communities should be active in personally reaching out. We should not leave this great mitzvah to government bureaucrats and functionaries however well-intentioned. The Jewish community should be involved in directly helping the less fortunate whether they are part of our own religious group or the general population.
It is entirely appropriate that this communal volunteer work should be supported by the government, and  faith-based-initiative programs can be an excellent method. Of course there are potential pitfalls, but problems should be identified and overcome. We should vote for these initiatives, and also take part in their oversight - that too is a Jewish value.
It isn’t enough to create jobs, we need to ensure that poor people get those jobs, and this is something that every community should be involved in, providing one-on-one counseling with the unemployed, helping them help themselves, and liasing with the government bureaucracy. This is a perfect opportunity for a Jewish community or synagogue to be involved, using funds from the faith-based initiative.

As Jewish liberals rather than secular liberals we believe in Family. It is a mitzvah to establish a family. And it is a mitzvah to help others do so. We are in favor of rebuilding family structures among inner city population, not simply letting people live as their inclinations lead them, without guidance. Not telling others what to do, but helping them understand the values of family life, helping them cope with family life, and helping financially via tax breaks to families with children. We need to inculcate in communities at risk the idea of personal responsibility and initiative, via guidance by local communal leaders and supported financially by the government through the faith-based initiative program.

It’s not enough to simply give free education to all children, or to integrate all schools so that the statistics show equality of access. We need to help ensure that children perform well in school, and so we ought to support the “No child left behind” program, and others like it which require schools to demonstrate achievement of goals, despite the inevitable opposition of the unions, which have a stranglehold on the Democratic party's ability to reform in this area.  

Jews do not believe money is tainted, business is inherently dirty, big business is always evil. We do NOT think there is anything wrong with being rich, as long as one also supports the poor. One can be ethical in business and any good Jewish bookstore will have tomes with the laws of ethical conduct in business. This is holiness according to the Jew: engaging in the world in a productive way which helps develop the world – a commandment given to Adam and Eve in Genesis – and to do so in an ethical manner. These are authentic Jewish values. They are also values underlying much of the Republican way, and on the other hand are anathema to many on the left who wield power in the Democratic party.

One need not become a Republican to vote Republican, one needn’t even agree with the entire Republican platform to vote Republican. As Governor Schwartzeneger said ‘if you don't agree with this party on every issue that's not only okay, that's what's great about this country and about the Republican party; we can disagree and still be good Republicans’; I say that we need not be Republicans at all, we can vote one way in one election and vote another way in the next election if that candidate is better. We needn’t agree with a candidate on every issue in order to vote for him. We can vote for the candidate who reflects Jewish liberal values and on those issues where we differ with his policies we can help channel the actions of the government in the appropriate direction.

Tikkun Olam
We should actively help change the world to make it a better place, Tikkun Olam of the first order. Only the US will do something in Darfur Sudan to prevent genocide there. No one is spending anywhere nearly what we are for AIDS prevention and treatment in Africa. Only US pressure, with the stimulus of vigorous Israeli military action, can allow Palestinian moderates to take power from the extremists and bring about the Palestinian governmental reform which is a necessary prerequisite to a peace treaty. Only projection of military power has brought Libya to renounce its nuclear bomb project and turn its energies to peaceful pursuits.

Environment
According to Jewish teachings humanity is created in the image of God, and we were given the Earth to watch over as custodians, and also to develop it. Combining these functions requires wisdom. We are certainly not parasites on the Earth as some Greens and radical environmentalists seem to feel.
Insect species - though they must be protected from annihilation - cannot take precedence over human needs. We have to find a balance, and Jewish values do just that, and so do moderate Conservative policies. The more we are involved, the more we can guarantee that the policies are indeed benign. We need to be less dependent on foreign oil, and so we need policies which will allow exploitation of our own natural resources: as Jews we are not pro-environment at the expense of humans nor are we in favor of development which will needlessly spoil our beautiful land. We have to look at the issues, the specifics, and decide, using rational and sensitive judgment, not decisions based on slogans from one side or the other.

Capital Punishment
Imagine Hitler captured and sentenced to 35 years in jail, emerging in 1980 unrepentant and founding a political party on his release. Or living his life in jail and using it as a base to create a Nazi Party among inmates who leave the jails to form chapters in their communities. We DO believe that some things are wrong and some are right. If you are Jewish and believe in Jewish values, then you are NOT a cultural relativist. There IS a place for capital punishment in some situations. It cannot be totally ruled out. And there are other, less extreme but very serious cases where perhaps it is appropriate: should a mass-murder like the Unabomber or the Oklahoma bombers be allowed to live in jail? Perhaps, perhaps not. As Jews we cannot simply rule out capital punishment, but on the other hand we must insist that it be judiciously applied. There must be great care taken to investigate every capital sentence, and the Jewish community should be involved in this, but not as a rejection of capital punishment even in principle.
We also need to be more involved as community with those in jail for violent crimes, to try to understand them and rehabilitate them. In any case we needn’t agree with all the policies of the Republican Party : we can vote and use the leverage to ensure the appropriate combination of tough love and compassionate treatment.

Abortion
Liberal Jewish values on abortion are not the same as those of the atheist liberal nor the same as those of the fundamentalist Christian. We do not see abortion as murder, but we also do not see casual use of partial-birth late-term abortion as ok, it can be appropriate only in extenuating circumstances. As Jews we should support abortions in the case of rape and other serious circumstances, and as in Jewish law be in favor of abortion in case of serious physical or emotional damage to the mother. However as Jews we should NOT be for permitting all types of abortion, at any stage of fetal development when there’s no extenuating circumstance; and even if it is legal it doesn’t have to be federal-funded.
As Jews we should also be in favor of easily available and compassionate counseling for pregnant women, free birthing for women in difficult circumstances, simple procedures for anonymously giving up children for adoption, wise regulations to allow childless couples to adopt these babies and to regulate the biological mother’s contact with the baby. As Jews we should vote for moderate conservatives and take part in the drafting of laws to make them compassionate and in line with our values rather than voting for the atheistic liberal secular values which come along with the Democratic party.

Assimilation
I am proud to be American, and I respect its symbols like the US flag precisely because I am allowed to burn it. Not that I want to burn it, but I do want the freedom to be able to burn it without going to jail. We are proud of being Americans precisely because it is so accepting to us, assimilation so easy that intermarriage is a threat to our existence. Not that we want to assimilate, but we love America because it is so open to us. As Jews we want to live in a free country in which it is possible for us to intermarry and assimilate if we so wish, but as Jews we should not want to actually intermarry and assimilate. Without in any way rejecting the population about us we DO believe there is a value to preserving the Jewish identity of American Jews, and preventing their assimilation into the greater culture.
Secular liberals would see it as repugnant to teach one’s children to not marry outside one’s group, but we are NOT secular, we are JEWS. Jews are a people and a religion, and we DO see value in maintaining ourselves.
We can proudly support initiatives to preserve Jewish identity, to promote marriage of Jews to Jews without vilifying those who choose otherwise or denigrating people of other faiths. It is a Jewish value we can be proud of. And no religious Christian in the US will ever think badly of us because we don’t want our children to marry their children – they will have only the greatest respect for us as a result. It would never be the cause of anti-semitism. We can be in favor of being good neighbors and friends and invite each other to family weddings and religious holiday celebrations while teaching our children that we are not aiming at joint weddings and celebrating mixed-religion holidays. No religious person of another faith will be insulted by our not celebrating their religious holidays or by our educating our children to not marry within their faith.

School Vouchers
Ironically the greatest blessing of American life for Jews is also the greatest danger: acceptance of Jews in this great country is so unprecedented that the assimilation rate is threatening the existence of a Jewish community here. Studies show that the only way to maintain Jewish life in the face of such a blessed threat is Jewish education. However, the cost of private education is so great that the burden of double tuition – paying tuition tax as well as private tuition – is impossible for most families. The answer is school vouchers, so that parents can decide where they will send their children to school.
As Jews we are NOT in favor of separation of church and state as a value in of itself, as perhaps secular liberals are. We are aware of the possible injustices and creeping persecution which can result, and so we need to be on our guard, but as Jews we don’t reject a program simply because it involves religion. We reject imposing religious beliefs and practices on anyone, but we do not reject religion per se!
Of course there are many possible pitfalls in terms of religion and state, abandonment of local public schools in poor neighborhoods, and difficulties for teachers in those schools, but these are challenges we have to confront and deal with - that is where watchdog and oversight committees come in – we should be in favor of vouchers, and also oversee their appropriate use.

Straight Singles and Gay Marriage
Of course as Americans we do not wish government to tell us what to do and what not to do in our private lives, but we as Jews do NOT believe that it is good for children of 12 and 13 to engage in sex, we do NOT think it is good for them to watch so much TV. We believe in a middle ground.
We do not want to persecute those who are single or gay, we want them to have all legal rights, but we DO believe there is a value to families, and that society should support male-female-children units more than other types of legally-permitted units such as gay couples. This is a Jewish value even if it isn’t a secular liberal value. We needn’t be ashamed of it. Of course we can also favor abolishing any governmental distinction between couples and singles for tax purposes etc, but whatever the government does in this regard, as Jews we can unabashedly favor man-woman-child units over heterosexual single life or gay marriage.
We can vote moderate conservative and use the leverage acquired to ensure the appropriate balance between family values and compassionate acceptance.

Vote, be involved, and demand watchdog role, ensuring that indeed our laws are just and compassionate and neither negate Jewish values nor pose a real threat to the separation of church and state.     


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