Against Kneejerk Politics

Winner gets a free Nextbook Press book appropriate to his or her comment (if he or she emails Marc Tracy at [email protected] with his or her mailing address).

This week’s winner is herbcaen, who wrote in response to Zack’s post on anti-Israel defeated candidate Charles Barron: “If Barron did end up the Democratic nominee, he would get 80% of the Jewish vote. If Himmler was a Democrat, he would get more Jewish votes in Manhattan than the Republican would.” This comment is a way harsh, Tai, and more than a little combative. But it coarsely needles the fallacy of kneejerk politics—not only Jews’, but everyone’s. Lesson here? Don’t just show up to the voting booth; do your homework first.

So in praise of complicated political figures, herbcaen gets Adam Kirsch’s examination of enigmatic statesman Benjamin Disraeli.