Political Affiliations of the Orthodox Jews in America

Monument to Russian Soldiers in Berlin

A right-wing affiliation of the orthodox Jews in America is a persistent paradox. To put it simply if the welfare state and the socialist safety net of the post depression America were to disappear, the Orthodox institutions would crumble in a month and the birthrate will drop far below the national average, except perhaps for a few families with unique talent and experience in stealing. Yet despite the fact that Orthodoxy in American is only possible because of the socialist institutions, there is the ubiquitous libertarian rhetoric.

But this is not even half as paradoxical compared to the fact that while Orthodox Jews like to proclaim allegiance to the Anglo-Saxon ideal of the liberal democracy, their culture and the internal communal structure is a bizarre mixture of feudal lordships, monarchy and communism. Most of the orthodox groups are ideological dictatorships run by family clans where nepotism is the decisive power, the very opposite of the idea of the liberal democracy. And this is far more insidious than the “goim and us” universe. There are rules for us and different rules for everyone else. The game we play at home and a different game we play outside.The totalitarian idea is internalized. I actually met people who are passionately libertarian yet believed in brain washing, propaganda, manipulation of the masses, crowd control. Hardly what the Anglo Saxons founders had in mind. Are you still asking why this American experiment is failing?

photo via flickr/tagl