The Blogs: Jewish Organizing 101: Building a New Jewish Political Platform

As a minority community, Jews always understood that their political power and influence would be limited. The extensive investment of Jews in politics today is in part a response to their historical condition of powerlessness. In many ways the storyline associated with securing political influence is central to the contemporary Jewish experience.

American Jews have been successful in advancing their political agenda. However, today, there is a growing unpopularity directed against Jews, Zionism and Israel. Younger American hold significantly higher levels of prejudice against Jews and carry forward critical viewpoints concerning Israel than other generational groupings according to a new ADL study. These negative stereotyping and prejudicial beliefs reflect a major new threat to our community and its longer term welfare, involving its political interests.

A part of this changing political equation is associated with the rise of other ethnic and racial communities, as these groups enter the public stage that had once been more directly dominated by the Jewish community. No doubt, considering our size and capacity, Jewish political influence extended well beyond what was realistic to have imagined for a community representing only 2 % of this nation’s population.

All of this reminds us that power is illusive and at times non-sustainable. The weakening of American Jewish influence accelerates the new political threats facing Jewish Americans.

Historical Context:

In connection with our long history of being powerless, Jews in modern times understood the importance of acquiring political power. The American Jewish political story would be strikingly unique. Almost from the outset, we appreciated the distinctive difference of this Diaspora experience, where democracy and religious freedom co-existed. Over these nearly 250 years, we mastered the tools of advocacy and access, understood who we were, and what defined our core interests, while demonstrating our sense of fidelity to this nation. Jews achieved power in two distinctive areas of influence, US foreign policy in the Middle East and within domestic affairs in such areas as civil and human rights and social and economic justice.

Drawing on Different Advocacy Models:

In moving forward, our community can benefit from the organizing models of various Jewish and non-Jewish lobbying initiatives. AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) offers us a case study in effectively managing and advancing the pro-Israel agenda:

De-emphasize Institutional Publicity: Focus Instead on Outcomes and Wins!
Focus on the End Product: Congressional Advocacy and Favorable Outcomes for Israel.
Promote a Lockstep Organizing Model: Framed around Bipartisanship, While Maintaining a Single-Issue Focus.
Advance the Idea of “the Pro-Israel Community” as a Distinctive Concept and Source of Messaging.
Develop a Bottom-Up Organizing Strategy: Identify and Promote the Case for Israel Among Existing and Emerging Political Figures. The “network” approach designed to reach each member of Congress offers opportunities for Pro-Israel advocates to regularly connect with their assigned Congressional representative.

Some years ago, I had occasion to study the inner workings of the NRA (National Rifle Association) and provided these conclusions and learning outcomes:

Mobilize broadly, creating access for millions of supporters.
Align one’s goals with patriotic values and a particular piece of American culture.
Move beyond the agency’s membership base in order to create a set of economic and political alliances.
Repeat one’s essential message over and over, maintaining the focus on the basic issues, never ceding core beliefs.
Create a sophisticated network of subsidiary organizations to carry out elements of the core agenda and to improve one’s fiscal position.
Construct an environment where members understand that they are part of community (family) who share common values and interests.

Building a New Jewish Political Platform:

In this new century, a different set of political realities are reshaping not only this society but also our status and place within this republic. Elsewhere, much as been written, documenting the nature of these transformative changes.

In building a new Jewish political platform, four elements will be core:

Identifying policy objectives that have broad but not necessarily uniform buy-in from within the Jewish community.
Building a platform that contains elements that appeal beyond Jewish interests. The task of turning self-interest proposals into ideas that have collective value.
Constructing positions that are tied to core principles of American democracy and Jewish tradition.
Identifying generic policy positions and making them Jewish communal priorities.

Posted below is a ten-point plan for Jewish political organizing in this century:

Principle 1: Create a Jewish Political Toolbox

Advocating for a platform is dependent on infrastructure. Jews will need to rethink and reconstruct their political toolbox. At a time when party loyalties are up for grabs and where all politics will be grounded at the local level. How the Jewish community organizes itself will be a critical ingredient to its imprint on the political story moving forward, as part of more generic re-engineering of the communal order. Creating a resource bank of critical strategies, tactics and tools that interest groups have deployed in the past represents a core first step. Mastering the practice of political advocacy becomes the first learning curve.

Principle 2: Allow Jewish History to be a Guide

In this complex and uncertain moment, the lessons of our Jewish historical experience can assist us in developing effective organizing strategies and in framing political outcomes:

The Politics of Accommodation: Jewish communities always needed to understand how best to access and garner influence in every society in which they would reside.
The Illusion of Power: Jews always were reminded about the limits of their power and influence.
The Access to Elites: A key element in Jewish history involved building linkages to decision makers and power brokers
The Role of the Stadtlan: Jewish Influentials Needed to Know When and How to Perform
Emphasis on Tradition rather than Ideology: Jewish communities that thrived did so by employing the tools of culture, custom, rather than law.
Focus on Messianism vs. Fatalism: Community leaders who engaged in political action did so by introducing positivity, hope and as against leading with negative messaging and perspectives.
Jewish Tradition on Limits to Power, as God has Ultimate Authority. Jews always understood that they were a covenantal people, seeking to fulfill and further God’s commandments.

Principle 3: Know with Whom You are Having the Pleasure

Develop a master list of core policy concerns and priorities. Focus on key policy makers, emergent political actors and potential candidates that may require long term support. At this time, it is also essential to monitor developments that are emerging around various efforts to launch of third-party initiatives, in order to determine areas of mutual concern and interest.

Principle 4: Promote and Advance Political Knowledge

Invest in strengthening Jewish voter education, enrollment, and participation as a way to maximize impact and activism. Create the ability of political activists to be able to advance the communal agenda. Hold training and educational sessions as an entry point in building teams of organizers, activists, and advocates. The proposition that an engaged and knowledgeable citizenry represents a first step in both preserving and strengthening this democracy.

Principle 5: Construct a “War Chest”: Understanding that Money is the Political Glue

Our community will need to take advantage of every opportunity to advance the work of political organizing by building a campaign reserve designed to underwrite policy initiatives, support candidates, and manage public events/rallies, promoting brand and growing momentum. PAC’s (Political Action Committees) provide valuable financial support to both prospective and elected officials.

The tactics here involve investing early (as well as late) money in support of attractive and potential candidates and office holders who will represent our agenda.

Principle 6: Master the Tools of Communication

Use every opportunity to promote and advance core agenda items, employing social media, targeted letters to key influencers, and public statements as a way to interest elected officials and future candidates. Those advocates who master the communications space will control the political field.

Principle 7: Frame a Master List of Contacts and Connections, the Rolodex as an Essential Tool

In politics, numbers and access matter! This is all about having the most significant political contacts and identifying key influencers. A part of this initiative involves cultivating other ethnic and interest group actors, high profile personalities, prominent business and professional leaders, and civic elites who share similar concerns by cultivating such relationships and connections.

Principle 8: Build Connections with One’s Political Adversaries

This counter strategy may seem problematic! Remember, we are playing for the long term. Many of our opponents have a broad appeal with key constituencies, critical to our community’s long-term interests. Always maintaining contact with these adversaries can potentially generate key opportunities in the future.

While we may differ with these folks in connection with particular priorities, finding common ground in other policy areas may create future benefits, as one builds credibility and connection with such players. Exposing such officials or organizational leaders with information and access can potentially reshape their policies and perspectives.

Principle 9: Accept Short Term Wins, But Play for Long Term Victories

Play the long-term game! While interest groups will not always achieve their immediate outcomes, the critical test revolves around their ability to extract from each political contest, helpful insights, strategies, and tactics that can be parlayed into future campaigns. Understand that every victory has a price, and every loss represents an opportunity!

Principle 10: Understand that the Margins Are Thin

Minorities, in general, and Jews, in particular, cannot endure political losses. Politics for some constituencies can be seen as a recreational exercise; for Jews, our history reminds us of the value-added when acquiring political influence!