Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 8 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 20 years ago by
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Why do Jews and Catholics usually support Democratic candidates in elections? It would seem that the Democrats’ (particularly the extremely liberal segment) stand on Israel and abortion respectively would be totally opposite of what Jews and Catholics believe in.
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Name : Kathy26664, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 50, City : Springfield, State : IL, Country : United States, Occupation : Medical, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,It’s tough being Catholic and trying to fit into either of the two major political parties. The Catholic philosophy includes certain ideals associated with the GOP, such as opposition to abortion, but also other ideals associated with the Democrats, such as higher minimum wages, more aid for the poor, etc. Remember that these ideals are global and not forged on the basis of U.S. political parties. My Catholic parish is hugely Republican, and the reason is abortion. They don’t have meetings over the right to bear arms or the need to restrain spending or other GOP platforms. Look at the ages of the Catholics in your area. Are they working folks with families? Maybe union members? If so, they would fit in with the Democratic social ideals. The Catholics in my area are mostly retired business executives, so they have no economic-equity goals and can thus focus solely on the abortion issue and be Republicans.
My own main political interest is in the environment as God’s creation. And I feel the Republican approach mostly favors developers, so I agree more with Democrats. But I don’t favor abortion. So I have been a pro-life Democrat, as most Catholic Democrats are – before I recently dropped out of the whole party concept.
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Name : Henry, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 44, City : Vero Beach, State : FL, Country : United States, Occupation : journalist, Education level : 4 Years of College,Catholics should vote for the candidate that best mirrors their belief system. By not doing so, they risk losing their good standing in the church.
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Name : Delana Arnaud, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 27, City : Eunice, State : LA, Country : United States, Occupation : homemaker, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,For more than 100 years, the Democratic Party has been more welcoming to immigrants and non-Protestants. Check out the famous ‘Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion’ speech of 1884. In addition, the Republican Party has typically been conservative with respect to economic policy (although it had a socially progressive wing for many years). As such, many people associate it with the entrenched social order. Jews and Catholics were primarily immigrants fleeing religious persecution and poverty, and they arrived here with nothing and had to fight their way into the economic mainstream. People with that background would hardly be sympathetic toward maintaining the status quo.
More specifically, the Democratic Party generally supports Israel and did so during a Republican presidency whose State Department was widely known as anti-Semitic. Many Jews are not opposed to abortion; the religion has no official stance on the subject that I know of. I’ll let someone else speak for Catholics on that issue.
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Name : JerryS, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : New Britain, State : CT, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,They say that Jews make money like Episcopalians and vote like Puerto Ricans. It’s due to ‘Tikun Olam’ (‘Repair the world’). Jews strongly believe in helping those in need, the widows and orphans, for example. Democrats tend to support more social services than Republicans; hence you get a strong support from the Jews.
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Name : Ronni, Gender : F, Religion : Jewish, Age : 42, City : Toronto, Ontario, State : NA, Country : Canada, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,Catholics support Republicans because Republican candidates are typically against abortion. What your are refering to is how Catholics used to support Democrats because the majority were working class and the Democratic Party used to support the working class. Now they support the welfare class and are strictly anti-abortion. Furthermore, many Democratic candidates were Catholic themselves in the past, for example John F. Kennedy.
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Name : Patrick Davis, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 25, City : Kansas City, State : MO, Country : United States, Occupation : Software Engineer, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I’m Catholic, Pro-Choice, AND I vote Republican for economic reasons (in other words, my money is my money, not that guy’s money) Go figure huh…
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Name : Katrina M., Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Cajun French, Religion : non-practicing Catholic, Age : 20, City : Mobile, State : AL, Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,Your question assumes that Jews and Catholics consider support for Israel and abortion, respectively, to be the the sole or most important factors in their poltical choices. The truth is that people (and groups of people) tend to be more complex than that. It is true that there are many Catholics for whom abortion is the key issue, but I would argue that there are more Catholics who are concerned about jobs and war than abortion. Furthermore, Catholics and Jews came to this country as outsiders and were drawn to the Democratic party for its support of ‘the little guy’, social justice and labor. Indeed, I could just as easily turn the question around and ask you ‘Why are evangelical Christians usually Republicans, when Christ called us to love our neighbors, care for the poor, eschew wealth and avoid war?’
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Name : Peter, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 32, City : Santa Monica, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : Editor, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,I am a devout Catholic and have always voted Republican for one very important reason: I am pro life, as should all Catholics be, to obey Rome and God and Jesus.
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Name : Suzanne Root, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 41, City : Vista, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : stay at home mom, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,
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