One should not assume that the anger expressed by American voters in recent weeks is somehow limited to a fringe element of this society. While Jews are generally not identified with the Tea Party crowd, there has been a corollary Jewish response these days to the events unfolding in the Middle East and elsewhere. Someone has suggested that this countercultural response could be labeled as a contemporary version of the Maccabees, namely, a revolt against the existing order
Clearly, the community mobilization in the months following the Gaza flotilla incident has energized significant segments of the American Jewish community. Unlike previous news events involving Israel, this story has served to galvanize many who are particularly upset over how Israel has been depicted by governments, commentators and press reports.
Already deeply committed to a pro-Israel agenda, these Jewish activists and voters now feel increasingly isolated and concerned over how Israel is being maligned in the world. Over time, this cohort of voters and activists has taken on the political attributes and characteristics of “red state voters” through their support of single-issue concerns, a value-based and at times a faith-defined political agenda, and a specific hard-line position on American security and military defense issues. Voters from within this growing wing of the Jewish community have opted to support candidates who more definitively support their policy viewpoints and who in turn have questioned the current state of American democracy and politics. In particular, this group has sought to critique the current national administration for what it perceives as its less-than-full support of the case for Israel within the international community.
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The national anger found among the electorate encompasses concerns over the economy, jobs and health care reform as individualized issues. But the deeper despair is tied to what researcher Frank Luntz has described as the lack of accountability and the lack of respect when dealing with one another. Such themes are not only evident among Jewish constituencies but take on a specific bent in expressions of anger offered through recent online comments:
Israel needs to turn down further American “military aid” so as to no longer be beholden to a communist Muslim interloper or his nudist Israeli messenger boy.
http://www.jewishjournal.com/cover_story/article/the_new_angry_american_jewish_voter_20100810/