Been MIA for a while so just caught up on this thread. Something I’m sensing here, and by extension is certainly symptomatic of the broader community since the DDF community is highly educated, is the lack of awareness of the extreme importance of bloc voting. This is something that has been known and used effectively across politics since forever and Lakewood has really not taken advantage of it effectively enough.
That all just changed.
I’m not saying Avi won’t try to make tuition happen on some level. Perhaps that’s even why we’re trying to show our bloc power now, to make waves in Trenton about this issue. But that wasn’t the fundamental concept underlying his candidacy. It didn’t need to be him to happen. It was just a gamble that could underscore how powerful a demographic we truly are.
If people would understand the importance of the bloc vote and recognize how on a statewide level- not necessarily township level- voting as a bloc is the only way to truly have politicians cater to our needs and wants, there would be no need for this massive concerted effort.
Explaining how he’s going to help your individual needs isn’t the nekudah of such a campaign. Unanimous Da’as Torah (aside from a few perhaps well meaning Korachs) is *exactly* what should be used to communicate that the einei ha’am- those who have the klal in mind, not your simplistic red/blue cheshbonos- are unified in their vision of what our obligation is.
IMO the only education we need more of in this regard is the understanding that your individual vote is literally worthless. There’s an old joke told about the economist who met another economist at the voting station. Embarrassed, after blaming his presence on his wife, the first one said “I won’t tell anyone if you don’t tell anyone!” Only the power of the bloc grants your vote any meaning.
You decide. Do you want to be part of the bloc of the “Red Wave” or of the “Jewish vote”? Which matters more for your family and your community?
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