measuring human “progress” in the new millennium: the jewish question revisited

<p>This is an article in two parts. Part <span>i</span> offers a new way of looking at progressivism and progressive politics by defining different typologies of progressivism and by looking for these approaches in the cultural strategies of specific ethnic groups. The study offers a theory of how these progressive cultural strategies are maintained and distinguishes these strategies from apparent “progress” that may simply be a phenomenon of temporary accommodation of different ethnic groups in more complex systems. Part ii examines the ideology of “progress” as part of the cultural strategy of Jews and whether this strategy, which appears stronger when Jews are minorities in the Diaspora, is consistent with Jewish culture once Jews have a territorial boundary where they are a “majority.” This article touches upon the political choices that Jewish “political progressives” and Jews, overall, have made recently in the U.S.; modifying their support for “progress” in return for political representation, with parallels to the historical situations of other minorities. While “identity based” political choice that slows the overall “progress” of civilization appears to have protected Jewish interests in the short term, historical comparisons suggest that this choice will endanger Jews if the U.S. economy and U.S. global influence collapse, in a direct historical parallel to the European Holocaust; offering an opportunity to test theories on how (and whether) “progress” occurs. In short, this study examines the choice that Jews made in the 20th century to define themselves as “European” rather than “Middle Eastern” (or “Eastern”) and how a rethinking of this choice could be fundamental to protecting Jews in Israel and to restarting a global impetus for both social and political “progress.”</p>