Now that I have your attention with that blog post title…

How many of you have heard about the mini-scandal regarding NBC and the libertarian/conservative non-profit called Americans for Limited Government?

The short version of the story: ALG sent out an e-mail regarding Congress and funding for ACORN. One of the e-mail recipients was Jane Stone, a producer for NBC’s Dateline program. ALG claims that her response to Alex Rosenwald of AIG was “Bite me Jew boy” and they provide this copy of the e-mail as evidence. The president of NBC News is saying that the e-mail is bogus, but ALG is equally firm in their claim that “the hateful email was indeed sent from NBC’s server, and this can be verified, and was not tampered with, which can also be verified.” ALG has offered to help NBC find out who sent the “hateful” e-mail if NBC truly believes Ms. Stone didn’t send it.

Before I go further, let me make one thing clear: I’m not a person who is easily offended, and as a “Jew boy” myself I recognize there are anti-Semites out there, whether or not Jane Stone actually sent the note. I don’t care much about them.

What this episode reminds me of, however, is my recent question (one also posed by smarter and more influential people than me, such as Larry Greenfield and Norman Podhoretz), of why Jews are so stubbornly supportive of the Democratic Party, or more generally why Jews are liberals, given what liberal has come to mean in today’s society.

It’s the Democrats who support the UN, which is the world’s leading anti-Semitic organization.

It’s the Democrats in Congress who support the Palestinians and who, like the UN, criticize Israeli victims of Palestinian terrorism.

And, as I’ve said before, the home of anti-Semitism in today’s “mainstream” politics is the Congressional Black Caucus, a subsidiary of the Democratic Party.

I realize that the question of Jewish political affiliations is complex, that it includes an entirely rational historical distaste for Republicans who run country clubs and corporations which excluded Jews.  But times change. The GOP is far more supportive of Jews in general and Israel in particular than is the non-Jewish majority of the Democratic Party.

The Democrats are the party of beggar-thy-neighbor. And whether you like it or not, Jews tend to earn higher than average incomes – making us a prime target for the Democratic politics of jealousy.  Jews tend to be very charitable. Indeed, part of the Yom Kippur requirements to atone for misdeeds of the prior year is charity. Jews are probably tending to confuse charity with the Welfare State.  They are NOT the same thing.  Beyond issues of efficiency, i.e. the state wasting a lot of money as it redistributes wealth, the key point is that charity is not something given at the point of a gun or the threat of prison.  Supporting government redistribution of wealth is not charitable. It is coercion.  And if there is anything that our history should cause Jews should oppose, it is government coercion.