I only get into trouble on DU when I try to get to what's real.

[shaayecanaan]

285. You've hit on part of it

In the United States, 80% of Jews vote for the Democratic Party, in the UK only 50% of Jews vote for labour, and in Australia it is reversed - 70% of Jews vote for the conservatives.

The reason why Jews feel comfortable voting for the UK Conservative party but not the republicans is because the Conservative party is a dour, stable "don't spook the horses" party whereas the U.S. Republican Party is a shrill, polemical, nativist (almost right wing populist) party. Essentially the dems are a Conservative party (by world standards), the Republican Party is further off to the right. This means that many members of minorities feel compelled to vote for the democrats even though they may be quite socially conservative (as many African Americans are) and would prefer other options - but they can't bring themselves to vote for the republicans - they're too extreme.

But there is a more fundamental reason, which I've mentioned before. Any mass political movement depends to some extent on "strategic essentialism" - that is, essentially, emphasising the similarities that unite a constituency and simultaneously downgrading or passing over any differences that might otherwise distinguish those constituents from each other. So From the pov of a movement like black lives matter, this means emphasising the common experience of racism that all black people endure. On the other hand, any movement, for example, that sought to point out the daylight between the experiences of a wealthy black person and a poor black person is probably not likely to be a welcome development.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_essentialism