from NY to Israel Sultan Reveals
The Stories Behind the News

Posted: 26 Oct 2009 10:34 PM PDT

The Conservative Jewish scholar, Martin Himmelfarb once quipped
that, "Jews earn like Episcopalians, and vote like Puerto Ricans".
That quip is often quoted but little questioned, because in fact
Episcopalians often vote like Puerto Ricans themselves.

The Episcopalian Church supports illegal aliens, health care
nationalization, the anti-war movement, abortion, card check, gay rights
and affirmative action. It has an openly gay Bishop, it is a member of the
Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and the Church has even spoken
out in support of transgender civil rights. It was one of the key backers
behind 40 Days for Health Reform. The 75th general convention delivered a
resolution condemning the War in Iraq. The All Saints Episcopal Church in
Pasadena took the anti-war position so far it became infamous for
delivering an anti-war sermon before the 2004 election, resulting in an
IRS investigation.

As it turns out, Jews do vote like
Episcopalians after all. And the Episcopalians are not alone. America's
elite liberal Protestant Churches served as the model for liberal Jewish
Temples, just as liberal Protestant clergymen served as models for liberal
Jewish clergymen, who were essentially aping the manners and politics of
their social betters. All together they form what is known as the
Religious Left, liberal clergy committed to using government powers to
enforce their conception of social justice.

There are of course a
great many members of their congregations who disagree. Some sit by
silently or dismiss this week's sermon on the need to help the stranger,
who in this case is likely to be a Muslim or transgender illegal alien.
Some take more aggressive action which is the situation that has resulted
in the split within the Anglican Communion.

The premise behind
Himmelfarb's assumption is that Jews earn like upper class Americans, but
vote like lower class Americans. The problem with that premise is that
upper class Americans actually often vote like lower class Americans.
Liberalism is not practiced by a bunch of radicals huddling in a cellar
over a handful of bombs somewhere. And even when it is, the radicals tend
to be the sons and grandsons of bank Presidents, as in the case of Bill
Ayers and Barack Obama. Liberalism is practiced by the upper classes, as
much if not more so than conservatism.

The fundamental economic difference between Democrats and
Republicans lies in their differing approaches to economic aspiration. The
Republicans emphasize the individual economic aspirations of those on
bottom and in the middle climbing up the ladder through hard work, while
Liberalism is rooted in the noblesse oblige of those on the top or the
middle lifting up those below them through various social programs.

That is why Conservatism appeals most powerfully to the economic
ideals of the working class and lower middle class, while Liberalism plays
on the sense of obligation felt by the upper class and upper middle class,
and the entitlement of some in the permanent lower classes.

Liberals love to play on the idea that Republicans are party of
the rich, but Bill Gates, the richest man in America, is a liberal who
after retiring from Microsoft has dedicated his time to using his
foundation to push his political views. Bill Gates incidentally comes from
a Congregationalist family. The second richest man is Warren Buffett, from
a Presbyterian family, who like Bill Gates made the inevitable transition
to being an agnostic, and sits on the board of the Gates Foundation. And
of course is a liberal. During the 2008 election, Buffett said that it
would take a lobotomy for him to vote for a Republican candidate because
of his views on social justice.

Gates and Buffett's views help
define why America has become so liberal. Both men like so many of their
peers believe in wealth redistribution. Accordingly both Gates and Buffett
donated to Obama. And both men are putting their money where their mouths
are, by donating the bulk of their wealth to charity. And such views and
behaviors are far from uncommon among America's wealthiest. The problem is
that they are imposing them on everyone else as well.

Modern
liberalism would probably not exist without the Ford Foundation. Or George
Soros' wealth. Or to put it more simply, it would not exist if the top 1
percent of wealthiest people in America, as well as in Europe, Israel and
much of the Western world, did not believe that their countries should be
reorganized into great socialist hives. And did not spend large portions
of their wealth to do just that.

The problem is not that Jews vote
like Puerto Ricans, the problem is that they vote like Episcopalians. That
is that Jews have abandoned the working class and middle class roots of
their grandparents, in favor of joining in at the elitist table of
liberalism. In an endless session of fundraisers and dinners for the
liberal cause of the month, and most of all for redistributing the wealth
that they attained, but don't feel they have a right to.

The people who believe most in the American Dream are
not the Gates' and the Buffett's, but the Joe the Plumbers... the working
class people hoping to move up, and struggling with the byzantine
bureaucracy, unions and taxes that some of the wealthiest people in
America helped impose on them. It is that segment of America that works
hard for a living, or that remembers what it is like to work hard for a
living... that represents the real grass roots base of the Republican
Party. And it is that segment that unleashes the ugliest class warfare
backlash from liberal elitists, whether it is Sarah Palin or Joe the
Plumber.

Because there is class warfare in America, but it is a
form of class warfare that thwarts the aspirations of those Americans
trying to work their way up through hard work, by those who believe that
sort of thing is an outdated relic that needs to make way for a socialist
state. And paradoxically it is those Americans who have benefited the most
from capitalism, who are doing the most to destroy it. For those who ask
why Jews vote liberal, it may be much more pressing and important to ask
the question, why Episcopalians who were America's elite vote
liberal?