Strange Days Indeed

 I'm old enough to remember when Democrats and Liberals championed Jews, and much of the US's anti-semitism came from the ranks of country club Republicans. Boy have things changed.

Plenty of folks from all walks of life hate Jews, of course, but it seems lately the worst comes from Lefties. Last week, bastions of the left were put on full display for their feelings: the presidents of Harvard, Penn, and MIT testified before Congress.

The Presidents are all women -- the MIT one Jewish herself. The Harvard Pres looks exactly like Steve Urkel, the ultra nerdy character from an 80s sitcom -- not a distinguished look for an academic, particularly a woman.

Anyway they were grilled about the outright Jew hatred on the Ivy League and MIT campuses, and came across terribly. We all know how things have become regarding political correctness over the past decade or so. Harvard has infamously rescinded admissions to incoming freshman who had social media pages saying stuff like "Nice tits" about women. But when it comes to Jews -- all is fair game.

During my college years, Harvard was 25-30% Jewish. Now it's down to 5-10%. A lot of the new guard, instead of seeing Jews as positives, sees us as privileged white imperialists, whereas African Americans and Palestinians are lionized victims -- so it's acceptable to hold rallies where Nazi imagery is present, and classic Jewish hatred tropes are posted.

Oh boy. Many of the big donors are voting with their gifts, fortunately. And, hedge fund guys like Bill Ackman are spreading the word to prospective employers: know who you may hire to work for your bank.

The problem is, the donors have already made the Ivies so absurdly rich, with endowments larger than many countries, I wonder if the relatively small missed gifts will even matter. I guess time will tell if the Ivies lose their respectability -- CUNY already has. The former "Harvard of the Lower Classes" has become an academic joke -- more likely to produce community activists than Nobel Laureates, which it did, in its glory times.

So far, my alma mater is proving admirable. UM's President Frenk spoke with moral clarity about the terrorist attack in Israel, and we don't hear too much about bad stuff happening.

At the Ds' alma mater, the new president is proving to be the real deal. Ben Sasse is a Conservative former Senator, and when he got the job some said it would hurt UF's prestige. Instead, he has also spoken with moral clarity.

I know anecdotes aren't true evidence, but at least one neighbor I spoke with told me her academic star son, applying to college next year, has crossed the Ivies off his list, and now wanted UF. I hope he gets in -- an already competitive admission there will likely be tougher with other would-be Ivy kids.

I'm glad my family all falls pretty much the same on these issues. Although some of us are more Liberal (D2 and Wifey), we're all very proud Zionists. As my Conservative friends predicted in college, I've drifted much more to the Right myself -- though I keep my Democratic Party affiliation. That's probably mostly because the GOP is led by Trump, who I can never support.

If and when Trump leaves or gets kicked out, the more moderates like Nikki Haley take over, and the Dems continue to fall prey to Squad-type Dems -- well -- there may well be a generational sea change politically, for me.

Still, as the great Daniel Moynihan said, all politics is local. Most attribute it to Tip O'Neil, but apparently he didn't coin that apt phrase. For us, that will mean effects on the grandkids. Somehow our oldest is only 14 years away from college -- that time seems to truly fly.

What will the atmosphere be for him, who will be raised proudly Jewish, and Zionist?

I hope I'm around to see.