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lieve, represents the legitimiza-
tion of a divisive mode of politics
that pits an angry middle-class
public against the poor and the
foreign.
It's relatively simple to make
the case that those who sneak
across the border should not re-
ceive government largess. Legal
immigrants, on the other hand,
pay taxes; by following the rules,
they are part of a tradition that
gave substance to the American
dream.
It would be fair, Jewish ac-
tivists contend, to make these
immigrants absorb their share
of reasonable cuts; it makes
sense to examine all social ser-
vice programs with an eye to
improving efficiency and cutting
waste.
But what Congress and the
administration are doing is us-
ing immigrants as a lightning
rod to attract and absorb public
anger over a host of unrelated is-
sues. That elevates blatant
scapegoating to the level of pub-
lic policy.
And that could be the worst
news of all for a Jewish commu-
nity that still depends on this na-
tion's ambivalent pluralism for
its security and prosperity.
"Immigrants have always
been a favorite scapegoat of the
disaffected," a worried Jewish ac-
tivist here said this week. 'What
Congress and the administration
have done with this welfare bill,
and with a number of other ini-
tiatives singling out immigrants,
is give the government's impri-
matur to that offensive and dan-
gerous process. Ultimately, other
minorities will be targeted, as
well."
Mr. Clinton has hinted that
he might revisit the sweeping
cuts to immigrants early in a
second term. Jewish groups will
support that effort, but they also
will be careful to avoid making
that their only response to a "re-
form" measure that has a vari-
ety of victims, many who will be
affected far more directly and
severely than Jewish immi-
grants. ❑
,—/
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et's face facts. The
Buchanan faithful, repre-
sented by the hard-core re-
ligious right, is a far more
important voting constituency to
Dole than are the Jews. It is not
at all surprising that the Family
Channel, which is owned by
Christian Coalition President Pat
Robertson, will produce and
broadcast from the Republican
Convention.
By all accounts — even those
coming from staunch Republi-
cans — the Dole campaign is
floundering. Although one can
expect the current huge gap to
close somewhat after the Con-
vention, Dole needs all the sup-
port he can muster and he can ill
afford to alienate the Buchanan
supporters.
By the same token, Dole cer-
tainly realizes that the Jewish
vote will go overwhelmingly to
President Clinton (I believe he
might gamer 85 percent, or even
more). Nevertheless, Dole and
Neal Sher formerly headed the
U.S. Office of Special
Investigations and the
American Israel Public Affairs
Committee.
the RNC have been courting our
community, as reflected in his
sponsoring in 1995 legislation to
move the U.S. embassy from Tel
Aviv to Jerusalem (something
which he had previously op-
posed).
Although realistic and well
aware that they cannot make sig-
nificant inroads in Jewish voting
patterns, Republicans also know
that Jews make political contri-
butions far out of proportion to
our population. So Dole has gone
after big bucks from Jewish Re-
publicans. I am told that he has
been quite successful.
Make no mistake, it is very
much in our interest to have in-
fluence on both sides of the po-
litical aisle. We must never be in
the untenable position of being
taken for granted by one party
and ignored by the other. There
are some very committed Jews
who are supporting and raising
considerable sums for Dole and
the Republican Party; presum-
ably they are in a position to ex-
ercise influence on our issues.
The question is, will they? It
is not at all unfair or unreason-
able for our community to expect
them to assume a special re-
c=\'