The Imperative to Vote for Morality
By Binyomin Feinberg
The importance of voting in accordance with Torah values can barely be overstated. Torah sages have emphasized this point since at least 1982 when several of them called on Jews to actively oppose the gay "rights" agenda, in particular.
Since then, dozens of strong rabbinic statements on this topic have been issued, many in just the past decade. A very recent one, for example – signed by 50 rabbanim from a wide array of Orthodox communities – declared that voting for someone supporting Assisted Suicide is prohibited.
Specifically, a number of co/-sponsors of Assisted Suicide are running for re-election in this Primary, e.g.:
Senator Diane Savino (Bensonhurst, Sea Gate, Brighton Beach);
Sen. Marisol Alcantara (Washington Heights);
Sen. Martin Malave Dilan (Williamsburg);
and Sen. Jesse Hamilton (Crown Heights).
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Sometimes no moral choice exists in a particular race. But showing up to vote (and writing in a candidate or skipping certain sections of the ballot entirely) is still important since a symbolic protest vote conveying one’s revulsion with the candidates can set the stage for future candidates catering to our moral concerns. Staying home would just be interpreted by the politicians as apathy rather than disgust.
IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION:
THE FOLLOWING ARE A JUST A SAMPLING OF SOME NYS RACES OF CONCERN IN THIS UPCOMING PRIMARY. ABSENCE FROM THIS LIST SAYS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, EITHER WAY, ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF ANY GIVEN RACE, OR OUR POSITIONS ON IT.
EVERY VOTER IS ENCOURAGED TO DO THEIR OWN RESEARCH. CHECKING COSPONSORS OF -AND VOTERS FOR - BAD BILLS, LIKE ASSISTED SUICIDE, IS A QUICK AND EASY WAY TO UNDERSTAND CANDIDATES' POSITIONS.
The NY State Assembly website allows the user to search for a bill on any topic. Just type in "sexual orientation," "transgender," abortion, etc., and check for co-sponsors, even if the given bill has not yet been voted on.
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Governor: We already said two weeks ago that New Yorkers face a choice between arguably the most flagrantly pro-LGBT governor in the history of the United States and an activist who celebrates at least one of the abominations of the LGBT agenda. WE URGE WRITING IN "RABBI AVIGDOR MILLER" IN PROTEST.
Democrat Lt. Governor: Kathy Hochul pulled off all sorts of shenanigans this past June to pass an abortion bill that would have eliminated the law requiring saving babies that survived a botched abortion. Her opponent, City Councilman Jumaane D. Williams, has previously expressed opposition in principle to abortion and same-gender "marriage." Yet, we are unaware an instance where he's passed up an opportunity to vote for these items.
HOWEVER, SINCE WILLIAMS IS *BY FAR* THE LESSER EVIL, AND BECAUSE VOTING FOR HIM MAY POTENTIALLY BLOCK CUOMO FROM RE-ELECTION, UNDER THE RIGHT CIRCUMSTANCES, VOTING FOR HIM MAY BE APPROPRIATE IN THIS SPECIFIC SCENARIO.
(1) IF ENOUGH Democratic primary voters get Williams on the Democratic Party ballot FOR NOVEMBER -- AND
(2) IF THE INDEPENDENCE AND DEMOCRATIC PARTIES FAIL TO AGREE ON A SHARED LT. GOV. (the Independence Party is already decided on running Lt. Gov. Hochul) ----
THEN the Democratic and Independence Parties would be considered as two separate parties. Thus the GOP would only need defeat each one; they would NOT need enough votes to top the COMBINED number of votes of both the Democratic and Independence tickets.
This would POTENTIALLY facilitate a major upset: A GOP VICTORY IN THE GENERAL ELECTION.
GIVEN THE STAKES, EVEN MANY PURISTS, WHO SHUN VOTING FOR THE LESSER EVIL, MAY CONSIDER VOTING FOR THE LESSER EVIL MAY JUSTIFIED, OR EVEN NECESSARY.
HERE, IT'S NOT A MATTER OF SETTLING ON THE LESSER EVIL. It's a matter of employment of the correct election technique to enable the Republican to win by trying to split the Cuomo ticket into two.
Democratic Attorney General candidates:
The position of Attorney General is extremely sensitive (in addition to being a gateway position to run for Governor). A good AG would properly enforce the Law. A poor AG would fail to do so. An evil AG would brutally enforce their own "Law" at whim, persecuting the righteous -- and enabling the wicked.
This is NOT hypothetical. Before he was compelled to resign in disgrace, AG Eric Schneiderman hatefully persecuted peaceful prolife sidewalk counselors, while enabling abortionists to make money.* (He also ignored the frequent coverups of child- molestation crimes, for which the Abortion Industry is infamous).
*(See "Liberty Counsel" information on this case, which they won, defending religious sidewalk counselors - saving preborn babies from certain death - against the bigoted AG (and the millionaire abortionist Merle Hoffman, on behalf of whom AG Schneiderman persecuted the prolifers).)
It's an alarming reality that every AG candidate today would have been labeled a radical a decade ago. All four seem to aim to out-progressivize the other. Those who listen to them debate would probably be surprised by any evidence suggesting that any one of these candidates does NOT oppose Orthodox Jewish rights.
Given their celebration of the movement which prides itself on inciting antipathy to those faithful to Torah morality (i.e., the LGBT Axis), we can expect every single candidate to side with all manner of physical and spiritual enemies, against us. (What's so difficult here is identifying the least of the evils.)
° Sean Patrick Maloney is, by far, the worst candidate running. The first flagrantly homosexual congressman in NY history, he tried to hold up the defense budget to add a amendment to the bill forbidding government contracts to business that don't allow men to wear skirts to work. In 2014, he co-sponsored a bill that would likely have been interpreted to ban any foreigner who protested a Gay Pride parade. Properly detailing his nefarious policies would require an it's own website.
° Letitia James, now NYC Public Advocate, as a city councilwoman, sponsored at least three LGBT bills/resolutions, and cosponsored multiple others. Endorsed by Gov. Cuomo and multiple LGBT organizations, she has sponsored a bill that labels homosexuality a protected class; cosponsored a resolution calling for the passage of the Dignity For All Students Act (mandating LGBT propaganda in all schools), and a resolution calling on the American Psychological and American Psychiatric Associations to brand therapy to overcome homosexual inclinations as "unethical." Even before NY passed Marriage DeQuality, she facilitated it, by pushing for City Clerks to post locations where such "marriages" could be perpetrated.
° Zephyr Teachout ran for Governor last election, seeking to "out-pink" Cuomo. Allied with the flagrant LGBT Nixon, she also was one of the few endorsers of the recently elected Socialist Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Her endorsement by the lesbian lawyer Roberta A. Kaplan (who led to the 2013 "marriage" Dequality decision that purportedly struck down the federal Defense Of Marriage Act) speaks loudly.
° Leecia Eve debates like any other fully unhinged pro-LGBT, abortionist progressive. Shockingly, it's a former Hillary Clinton aid that - superficially - appears to be the lesser evil of the candidates; she's the only one without a LGBT endorsement (as of this writing).
We urge joining other New Yorkers who will be writing in "Ed Mechmann" (a well-known profamily attorney).
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Selected Documentation:
Abortion positions of Primary Candidates:
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45th Assembly district (Flatbush), Democratic Female district leader race: Margarita Kagan is the incumbent and one of the better district leaders in Brooklyn. Her opponent, Esther Adina Miles, meanwhile seems to want to legalize marijuana, and has said on her Instagram page that she has "socially progressive views." Most alarmingly, she has posted pictures on Instagram of a transgender with a heart. For an Orthodox woman to promote causes that are antithetical to the Torah is a grave chillul Hashem.
20th Democratic Assembly race (Five Towns): We have no information on where John Vobis Jr. stands on any crucial issue. His opponent, Juan Vides, has posted a picture of himself on Facebook at the Long Beach Pride Parade.
46th Democratic assembly race (Sea Gate/Brighton Beach): Ethan Lustig-Elgrably supports the bill that would get rid of the law that forces doctors to save babies of botched abortions.
Mathylde Frontus is a LGBT activist who, according to radiofreebayridge, established an LGBT support group for teens. From a Democrat questionnaire she filled out, it's clear that LGBT values always come before religious rights in her mind. She is by far the biggest leftist activist to run for this office.
69th Democratic assembly race (Upper West Side): No assembly race demands a write-in as much as this one. Daniel O'Donnell is the Democrat who sponsored the same sex "marriage" bill as well as another one that may eventually force yeshivas to teach a LGBT curriculum.
Ruben D. Vargas meanwhile has made statements like "It’s time for society to redefine the boundaries of marriage, making it a renewable institution similar to holding a driver’s license."
71st Democratic Assembly race (part of Washington Heights): Al Taylor is the incumbent. He voted for practically all the LGBT bills that came up for a vote this year, but he did vote (in what seems to have been his only good vote) against the abortion bill that allows killing babies of botched abortions. A questionnaire he filled out makes it clear that he will vote for every LGBT bill this coming session as well.
We have no information on where opponents Guillermo Perez and Luis Tejada stand on any crucial issue.
72nd Democratic Assembly race (part of Washington Heights): We can't find a single immoral bill that the incumbent, Carmen N. De La Rosa, didn’t support. We have no information on where opponents Guillermo Perez and Luis Tejada stand on any crucial issue.
23rd Democratic Senate Race (Bensonhurst, Brighton Beach, Sea Gate): Diane Savino was the main sponsor of the assisted suicide bill. Jasmine Robinson is a major abortion-with-no-limits supporter. We have no information at this time on where Brandon Stradford stands on any important issue, but he may possibly be appropriate alternative in this situation.
In the zechus of fully prioritizing Kovod Shomayim, may we merit a Gmar Chasima Tovah in the fullest sense.
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Addendum to NYS Primary Election Primer:
Democrat Assembly 42 (Midwood) :
Rodneyse Bichotte: has voted for every single Toaiva [i.e., LGBT/abortion etc.] bill that passed.
Victor Jordan: makes it clear on his Stonewall questionnaire that he'd vote like Bichotte.
Neither deserve our support. In this district, if we unequivocally push for moral advocacy, then even candidates apathetic on morality would likely promote moral values to get our support if required by political expediency.
http://sdnyc.org/blog/2018/7/25/state-primary-endorsement-questionnaire-responses-assembly-candidatesDemocratic primary for NY State Senate District 11:
Tony Avella, the current Senator, has co-/sponsored numerous pro LGBT bills.
John Liu: Both his previous career starting as a City Councilman, and his run for mayor confirm that he, like Avella, is a committed progressive, though he appears to be more open to religious freedom. There is not enough of a difference between these two for us to get in to the mud and decide who is worse. Even those who generally do hold of voting for the lesser of evils would be urged to write-in a protest vote here.
Republican primary for NYS State Senate District 11:
Simon Minching: His facebook (FB) page implies that he will be one of the more left-leaning Republicans.
Vickie Paladino: From her FB page she appears to be a committed conservative. While we haven't seen enough to endorse her, it appears that she would be the distinctly preferable option.
Rockland:
In Rockland County, incumbent Democratic State Senator David Carlucci (formerly IDC) has a condemnable record on morality. In case any mosdos Chas VeSholom support him, voters need only remember his sponsorship of a bill that would mandate Yeshivos conform with Public Schools in the teaching of non-Torah subjects, with regard to rigor, time allotted, and subject matter. This may sound innocuous to some, but in fact it's extremely dangerous, particularly when seen in context of other anti-moral educational legislation, e.g. the Dignity For All Students Act (DASA). DASA, in essence, designates Public Schools as Government Sponsored LGBT Propaganda Centers, of sorts - indoctrinating kids to see practice of flagrant abominations as something demanding respect.
Soon, we could see Yeshivos and Girls Schools being pressed to either close down, or, R"L far worse, conform to the Public School standards of teaching respect for *flagrant* LGBT persons, or a variety of other anti -Torah (and antiscientific) nonsense.
Goldberg, his opponent, is openly more extreme than Carlucci. She, however, is less seasoned than Carlucci. Thus Carlucci is more dangerous to the cause of Decency. The only choice here is a protest vote.
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