Arnold Kling explores why so few of the Jews he knows are libertarian. He attributes it to “The Moses Complex”, rooted in the Exodus narrative which every Jew celebrates once a year.
One of the most basic narratives in Judaism is the Exodus, in which Moses leads the oppressed Hebrew slaves out of the land of Egypt. The Exodus is a movie that is constantly being remade, and not just by Cecil B. DeMille. It is the basis of Marxism and of what I call folk Marxism, both of which were embraced by many Jews.
The Original Marxist Folk Marxist Pharaoh Capitalist Class Wal-Mart Hebrews Working Class Other Stores Moses Karl Marx Liberal Pundits God Communism Government
Not every misfortune that occurs in society is a replay of Pharaoh’s enslavement of the Jews. The Exodus narrative can always be tried on, but it does not often fit properly. Usually, problems are more complex and systemic than a simple oppressor/oppressed narrative can describe. Sometimes, the best solution is to increase, rather than to diminish, personal responsibility. Often, government programs can exacerbate problems, with no built-in correction mechanism.
A regular guest at Loscon, a fellow by the name of Talin, likes to point out that what matters is not whether any system is error free, but how good the error correction mechanisms are. God is, by definition, error free. Nothing else is, even by definition. So far, no one has that much chutzpah.
