My name is Jerry Fogel. I live in Providence, Rhode Island. I am a recovering Democrat.
I, too, have been afflicted long-term by the delusion that because Democrats have an affinity for social programs they are our friends and allies. Don’t we Jews learn in Torah compassion for the unfortunate, for strangers? These values are endemic to Jewish teaching, right? So, we should be Democrats.
I admit being party to this folly. I loved JFK, and when he was assassinated, I felt I’d lost a family member. Like all Americans, I can picture the exact moment I learned of his murder. I was crossing Harvard Yard, on my way to my afternoon class, the History of Classical Music.
So, too, Bobby Kennedy. I witnessed his shooting on TV and was screaming at the television. My parents taught me reverence for Roosevelt. I admire Harry Truman’s courage in supporting statehood for Israel. My son’s name is Harry, just a coincidence, I guess; his great grandfather’s name was Harry Fogel. When Bill Clinton was caught philandering, I gave him some slack.
The Democratic Party is not good for the Jewish People, and it is double ungood for the State of Israel.
I made phone calls for moveon.org in 2006 to break the Republican lock on both houses of Congress, and it worked! And, to my shame and regret, I supported Barack Obama in 2008. I even gave a little money to his campaign. I cried tears of gratitude when he was elected.
So, you see, chaverim, I am a deeply flawed man, who has adhered to a destructive belief for too long. We are a stiff-necked people and slow to change. Ra-etee ha’am hazeh (I have seen this people and they are stiff-necked, Exodus 32). It has gone on too long, but it is over now.
The party’s over. I will do better. I am doing better. Like an alcoholic, I will always have the worm in my gut. I like social justice. I think that we should have universal health care. Sometimes I help homeless people. But I have seen the light, and I know the truth. The Democratic Party is not good for the Jewish People, and it is double ungood for the State of Israel, our homeland, the land promised to us by God if we are faithful, the beautiful, hopeful, courageous land which gives sanctuary to....us. The place where two of my daughters have raised their (very large) families. The place where you can keep kosher and keep shabbat with no hassle, because there it is normal.
It is the place described in Eikev as: “a good land, a land with streams and springs and fountains issuing from plain and hill; a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs and pomegranates; a land of olive trees and honey; a land where you may eat food without stint, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you can mine copper. When you have eaten your fill, give thanks to the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.”
Israel, this is the country that the PA wants to attenuate with yet one more hostile state on its borders. This is the beautiful land that Iran wants to “wipe off the map.” Three weeks ago, right after Obama’s cynical, sinister nuclear deal was approved in Lausanne, Iranian leaders were proclaiming eternal enmity to America and Israel. Iranian citizens massed in the streets, chanting, “Death to America! Death to Israel!” And yet President Obama presses on with his nuclear agreement with them, an agreement that not only legitimizes their nuclear program and clears the way for Iran to get THE BOMB in the not distant future, but also frees mountains of cash for Iran to spend on nefarious activities.
Democratic functionaries assure us that this will not happen. There are checks against it. Have you read 1984? Do you know what Newspeak and Doublethink are? War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery, and letting Iran have a nuclear program and lots of money is the only way to prevent them from making nuclear weapons and sponsoring terrorism. As my teenage daughter would say, “Yeah, right!”
And yet, this is the nuclear deal President Obama is pushing through as his legacy foreign policy accomplishment. He has presented it to the U.N. before Congress votes on it. He is speaking on National TV to convince us. Why is he doing this? Why is it so important to him? Why are the ayatollahs coddled, Israel and the Jewish People sandbagged? Why?
Stop voting Democratic. I have. If you once voted for the man who is now endangering the very existence of Israel, don’t do it again. This Democrat is the president who won’t even acknowledge that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital, which it is, who has insulted and disrespected Israel’s prime minister, whose first speech as president was to Cairo, not to Washington, who helped the Muslim Brotherhood take over Egypt.
Don’t vote Democratic. The friend of your enemy is your enemy. Don’t vote for Hillary Clinton. In 2010 she condemned the building of Jewish homes in Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem. Building Jewish homes in Jerusalem undermines U.S. efforts to promote peace, but giving Iran a green light on a nuclear program is alright. Don’t vote for Hillary Clinton. Please.
In Congress Lincoln Chaffee was described as “a particularly strong opponent of AIPAC.” He has criticized what he characterized as a “biblical influence on U.S. policy with respect to Israel.” Does this not have the ring of thinly-disguised anti-Semitism? Chaffee opposes Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria, where one of my granddaughters makes her home. Governor Chaffee is on the advisory council of J-Street, a group which is notoriously and hypocritically hostile to Zionism. Don’t vote for Chaffee. Don’t vote Democratic.
You can vote for Jack Reed. He’s okay. Vote for someone like Marco Rubio. He defends Israel with passion and conviction. Vote for Jeb Bush. He has vowed to stop acting like a schoolyard bully to Israel. Vote for Huckabee. He loves and defends Israel.
Here are the Top Ten Reasons American Jews Should Not Vote Democratic:
#10 Jimmy Carter called Israel an “apartheid state.”
# 9 John Kerry also used the A-word about Israel.
# 8 Lincoln Chaffee hates AIPAC.
# 7 BDS has infected liberal universities.
# 6 Barack Obama’s middle name is Hussein.
# 5 Hillary is a Clinton.
# 4 Sheldon Adelson, sponsor of Birthright Israel, is Republican.
# 3 Abraham Lincoln was a Republican.
# 2 Eisenhower was a Republican.
# 1 Clint Eastwood is a Republican.
So, go ahead, make my day. Stop being a punk and start supporting Republicans, who are friends of Israel and support our right to the Jewish homeland that God promised us as long as we are faithful. Am Yisrael Chai!
