Rick Perry and the Jews

More evidence, as if any were needed, that Jews form a hostile elite comes from an article in, of all places, The Chronicle of Higher Education (“Rick Perry and the Jews: An Introduction,” by Jacques Berlinerblau. First, that Jews are an elite:

They are small in number …. But it would be an error to think of Jews solely in terms of numbers. Their value lies in their organizational and intellectual assets. Jewish political groups are generous donors and formidable coalition-builders. Too, they are disproportionately represented among the nation’s opinion makers.

Right. Jews are a media-dominant group, and the usual wisdom is that Jews contribute around 75% of the money for Democrats and around 40% for Republicans. The problem that Jews have with Perry is first of all that he is a serious Christian:

[Perry’s recent Christian prayer rally left nearly all [Jews]—including Republicans—with concerns. Note to Perry handlers: Jews love ecumenical America [and multi-racial America–the rationale for Jewish support of massive non-White immigration]. Jews fear Christian (as in Evangelical Protestant) America. Jewish neo-Conservatives are not an exception to this rule. Mitt Romney can go to town here. Members of the Tribe will feel that he understands what it means to run afoul of the majority.

Jews fear (and loathe) an America that takes Christianity seriously. For Jews, serious Christianity immediately conjures up pogroms, marauding Crusaders, Inquisitions, and blood libel. The Middle Ages as past, present, and future.  Historical memory etched in stone.

Jews are also impervious to the charms of “small-town America” solicitations the likes of which Sarah Palin employed in 2008.

Of course, there is a big overlap between small-town America and evangelical Christianity. This battle against rural America has a long history among Jews.

For example, the New York Intellectuals of the 1940s and ’50s associated rural America with

nativism, anti-Semitism, nationalism, and fascism as well as with anti-intellectualism and provincialism; the urban was associated antithetically with ethnic and cultural tolerance, with internationalism, and with advanced ideas. . . . The New York Intellectuals simply began with the assumption that the rural—with which they associated much of American tradition and most of the territory beyond New York—had little to contribute to a cosmopolitan culture. . . . By interpreting cultural and political issues through the urban-rural lens, writers could even mask assertions of superiority and expressions of anti-democratic sentiments as the judgments of an objective expertise. (Cooney 1986, 267–268; italics in text)

The anti-democratic sentiments noted by Cooney fit well with Berlinerblau’s comment that “Jewish voters …  prefer cities and federal governments to backwaters and volatile statehouses. … All things equal, Jews like strong central governments, not a pastiche of local decision makers catering to majorities.”

A yes, those pesky majorities. Much better to have top-down control where voters don’t have much of a say on important issues like immigration policy where courts routinely overrule populist measures supported by majorities in states like California and (at least so far) in Arizona. (Perry seems soft on immigration, although there are signs he is moving to more of a patriotic position.) Populism is anathema to Jews. It’s much easier to have decisive influence on the federal government than on 50 state governments, some of which may get uppity from time to time.

Rick Perry has been a strong advocate of states rights, even suggesting secession as a possibility. In the video below, addressing a Tea Party rally, he says that “Texans know best how to govern Texas.” And quoting Sam Houston:  “Texas has yet to learn submission to any oppression come from what source it may.”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xgahd_k2ZBE

Definitely a problem for Jewish voters.

Right now there is a culture clash going on in the Republican Party. The LATimes phrases it this way: “Rick Perry and Mitt Romney showcase a Republican divide; Perry and Romney — brash populist versus starchy elite — illustrate a perpetual Republican cultural gap that may define the GOP presidential contest.”

Ah, there’s that word ‘populist’ describing Perry–a sure recipe for fervent opposition by Jews even though Perry has the typical Evangelical blinders about Israel–what Berlinerbrau terms his “unqualified support for the current government of Israel.”

The clash is between the old guard, country club Republicans with the present day implicitly White middle- and lower-middle class Whites who are indispensable to the success of the party and are angry that the country is being taken away from them (but deeply confused about what to do about it).

Whether they acknowledge it or not, Republicans are the White people’s party. They would be well-advised to take steps to maintain a White majority while there is still time and while popular attitudes still count for something. Because it’s clear that our new elite is quite hostile both toward both the dwindling White majority and to their attitudes on vital issues like immigration, states rights, and the power of the federal government.