Frequently I'm asked by Arkansans why Jews still lean left politically. The answer is a vestige of bygone days where Jews were unwelcome in conservative circles. Now, Jews should be far more aligned with Republican values than Democratic ones, their unfortunate lagging voting habits aside.
If Jews in Arkansas manifested their true interests, they could--as an organized group--more greatly influence policy by providing a conservative-minority perspective in Republican political debates.
Like me, most Orthodox and many Conservative (the religious denomination) Jews have voted right for years. And they (we) are an important voice in the Republican party. They have far more in common with evangelicals than they do with secular Jews.
But so far, most Reform and other-denominated or non-denominated Jews remain stubbornly Democratic. So Republican leaders often don't know which Jews will be receptive to the conservative messages of individual responsibility, rewarding merit, and biblical values.
This confusion is exacerbated when liberal-secular Jews hijack the imprimatur of Judaism to advance leftist positions, such as when they wrongly assert that abortion is permitted under circumstances beyond saving a mother's life. Judaism forbids abortion just as clearly as it bars eating pork.
After all, the Old Testament anthologizes the fire-and-brimstone prohibitions--chief among them "thou shall not murder." (Notice, incidentally, the proscription isn't against killing--such as in the death penalty, opportunistic-progressive false assertions notwithstanding.)
Leftists who map their modern social agendas on the extant ancient religion sour possible entreaties from the right with their heresy.
Equally as repulsive is when other leftists claim to be members of the Jewish community and they're not Jews at all. These progressive imposters mislead Republicans as to the true Jewish body politic. (I agreed to represent a Muslim woman who suffered discrimination. I'm nonetheless not a member of the Muslim community, no less a woman.)
Solidarity is one thing, but associating with Jews doesn't grant license to misappropriate my religion or redefine with whom God created the Mosaic covenant. A Jew is either born or converted into the Tribe. No one else is a member, and weekend-guest passes aren't available.
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
That the blatant-leftist double standard on cultural appropriation goes unnoticed is as remarkable as it is unsurprising. Elizabeth Warren falsely claims to be native American; that's fine. Gentiles represent as Jews; no problem. A Caucasian wearing dreadlocks; that's verboten.
That leftists aren't even the friends of secular Jews requires little investigation. Look at recent events at the University of California at Berkeley as an example.
Several student groups adopted by-laws banning speakers--on any topic--who happen to support the existence of the Jewish state of Israel, while the groups denied their patent prejudice. This rank antisemitism in progressive academia is sadly common: I've had my sincere religious beliefs questioned, ignored, and denigrated by those who never miss an opportunity to signal their race-hustling "virtue."
That self-avowed "anti-racists" belittle the bias claims of disfavored minorities, such as observant Jews and Christians, while routinely falsely asserting racism, only serves to prove the progressives' purpose as political not principled.
Recall when police officer Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. The Obama Justice Department determined there was "no credible evidence that Wilson willfully shot Brown as he was attempting to surrender or was otherwise not posing a threat."
Four years later, however, leftist loudmouths Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren, amongst others, still repeated the false narrative that Michael Brown was murdered. The Washington Post, no conservative bastion, declared that "Harris and Warren have ignored the findings of the Justice Department to accuse Wilson of murder, even though the Justice Department found no credible evidence to support that claim."
Similarly, the left are the proud parents of the conservative-targeting so-called unconscious-bias claim: "Conservatives, you're biased, and you don't even know it. If you deny it, that's just further evidence of bias." So, according to the left's lazy logic, you're racist whether or not you know it, but their antisemitism is nonexistent simply because they say so.
After all, how could Berkeley's intersectional, pan-continental, housing-reform, wastewater-recovery club that forbids Jews from speaking be biased? Did you not hear how lofty their eponymous goals are? How wonderfully convenient the self-justifying so-called Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion architecture truly is.
But to break free of this cult of opportunism, one must reject the racial dogma that defines the left. Not every mascot is racist; not every intra-racial comparison is an assertion of "them-erism."
For instance, in Poland--a country with three million Jews before WWII, 90 percent of whom were murdered by the Nazis--gift shops today sell dolls dressed in traditional Jewish garb holding a coin. The figurines are talismans for anyone engaged in commerce because, historically throughout Europe, Jews were businessmen--in part because they were excluded from professions. Those charms are not offensive. Not every mascot makes for malignancy.
Similarly, honestly mistaking, say, one Black actor for his doppelganger isn't racist. Sometimes people look alike, and their common race contributes thereto. It has been said that George Clooney looks like me. True, the one saying that mostly is me. But that we're both middle-aged white men with graying hair certainly contributes. I take no offense.
The race-grievance culture that defines leftism today, however, selectively casts aspersions of racism in a concerted-political effort to perpetuate permanent preferences, all while not addressing actual wrongs like those at Berkeley.
And Jews who support leftist discrimination in admissions and hiring enable the very racism previous generations desperately fought to eliminate. For years, colleges restricted the intake of Jews. This cap was a negative quota. And Jews battled to abolish this discrimination that elevated race above merit, the same way they joined the struggle for Blacks during the civil-rights movement.
Now liberals support the exact same discrimination through positive quotas--having a minimum number of their preferred minority groups. But, critically, every positive quota creates a reciprocal negative quota. Every time institutions set aside seats for the left's chosen minorities, they cabin seats for everyone else. Admissions are zero sum. There's a discipline that explains this: arithmetic.
The minorities most suffering under today's quota system, however, aren't Jews. They take a back seat to Asians in discrimination in academia, particularly in the sciences. Medical schools routinely reject higher-qualified Asians for lower credentialed whites and even lower-scoring preferred minorities on average. No wonder much of the world beats us in science.
This is why the Legislature this session must bring Arkansas in line with the several states that have already eliminated the institutional racism that is called affirmative action.
The left was once the collective for myriad disenfranchised seeking voice. Its claims were for equal treatment and fairness. No longer.
Presently, progressive policy is purely about privileging preferred minorities--prioritizing pigment and plumbing--over merit. It's time for Jews (and others) to abandon this cabal of race hustlers and maintain the commitment to fairness and equality--long abandoned by the left--that define Jewish culture.
This is your right to know.
Robert Steinbuch, professor of law at the Bowen Law School, is a Fulbright Scholar and author of the treatise "The Arkansas Freedom of Information Act." His views do not necessarily reflect those of his employer..