The Day I Met Colonel Sanders

In 1964, when I was just 10 years old, I would spend my Saturdays “working” at my father’s business, S. Fargotstein & Sons on the 10^th floor of the Shrine Building in downtown Memphis, Tennessee. His company, at the time, mostly sold watch parts and jewelry to Jewelry stores all over the South. On Saturdays, the glass see-thru doors to the office were locked, as my father was mostly dictating into a “Dictaphone” machine - so that his secretary could type it out during the following week. Communications in those days was a lot slower than today!

On this particular Saturday, around 1pm, after I had made all the morning deliveries to the downtown jewelry stores and pawn shops on Beale Street, someone pushed the buzzer in the hallway. Usually it was the mailman, so it wasn’t a surprise. My father said “Shep, go open the front door and let him in”. I walked up to the front counters, walked into the customer lobby area and looked through the glass doors and there stood Colonel Sanders in his full white suit, white hair and goatee - and his famous western bow tie! He looked 10 feet tall as I looked through the glass – in total shock.

I screamed “IT’S COLONEL SANDERS”!

I opened the door, the Colonel walked in, patted me on the head, looked over at my father and said “hi Max!” as he walked past the counters towards where my father was standing near his desk. They sat and talked for a while. My father knew I was impressed, as he saw me staring at the Colonel from afar. He called me over and formally introduced me and I shook his hand.  After they were done talking my father handed the Colonel a small bag, rang up the order on the ornate brass national cash register, gave the Colonel change and the Colonel walked out. I stood there in awe.

I asked my father why Colonel Sanders was at the office and he said that he had known Colonel Sanders for decades (before he became famous) because he had always been a hobbyist pocket watch collector, and liked to fix them himself. He always wore a pocket watch (on a gold chain) with his white suit. They were such good friends that the Colonel made my father an official “Kentucky Colonel” and gave him a framed certificate to hang in his office.

As it turned out, that very year (at age 73), the Colonel sold his business for $2 million ($17 million today), but he continued to drive all over the South promoting the Kentucky Fried Chicken stores.

2020 Presidential Election could see a significant rise in American Jews silently voting for Trump

Or...."Don’t tell anyone, but I voted for Trump”

As the President and Founder of the 8-year-old, 600 member Memphis Jewish Republican Coalition (join us on Facebook), I would like to respond to your recently published – and misleading - article entitled “New survey indicates Jewish Americans will vote for ANY Democrat – including Sanders – over Trump”.

While I do not dispute the overall premise that a majority of American Jews have voted in the past for any Democratic Presidential candidate, there are no hard, reliable statistics on how Jews vote in each Presidential election. An electronic, blind e-poll of all-American Jews is possible to run at a reasonable cost, but has not been done, why? Because the results probably would not line up with the Jewish, liberal, Democratic power brokers who make a living speaking on behalf of “ALL” American Jews – be it the URJ, AJC, ADL, AIPAC, J-Street, etc...

Trends matter: The Jewish Virtual Library states that Jews, starting in 2000, have increasingly voted Republican: 2000/19% (Bush)-2004/24% (Bush) -2008/22% (McCain) – 2012/30% (Romney) – 2016/24% (Trump). The 2016 figure is suspected of being understated - and actually in the 35-40% range because many Jews would not admit they pulled the lever for Trump (for personal and business reasons). Most importantly, 6% more Jews voted Republican against Obama in his second term run in 2012, indicating Obama’s policies toward the economy and Israel were disaffecting middle of the road Jewish Democrats. Estimates from Jewish Republican sources indicate that 50% of American Jews are expected to vote for President Trump in 2020, which is more representative of the general non-Jewish population.

It is obvious President Trump has personality flaws (like all of us), that many find annoying, or uncouth. I can’t think of one president in the last 50 years who didn’t have a negative personal trait or two. Clinton and Kennedy weren’t exactly choir boys. With that said, President Trump has had tremendous measurable success with his policies. No one cares if a firefighter is a narcissist - if he is doing a good job at putting out your house fire. President Trump made the Tea party irrelevant, and moved the Republican party towards the center of the American mainstream. Bill Clinton’s policies of yesterday would make him a Trump Republican today.

More American Jews will vote Republican because they are more affluent - and as a consequence value President Trump’s successful economic and foreign policies

 (deregulation, trade policy, border security, etc.). Most American Jews see America’s capitalist, merit based economic system as a value where hard work is justly rewarded. They will think twice before voting for Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden, because their socialistic leanings threaten the American value system. Most American Jews are not socialists.

Response to Temple Israel Rabbi Micah Greenstein's 12/13/19 article in the CA

As President and founder of the 7-year old, 500+ member Memphis Jewish Republican Coalition, I feel it is important to respond to the opinion piece in the CA dated 12/13/19 written by both Dr. Marjorie Hass of Rhodes and Rabbi Micah Greenstein of Temple Israel. Why respond? Their article, in my opinion, does not accurately analyze the wording of POTUS Trump’s Executive Order (EO) regarding anti-Semitism, nor does it put it into context of why it is necessary - and also why other countries have implemented the same basic laws against anti-Semitism. Micah and Ms. Hass claim this EO assigns an Israeli “nationality” or “race” to American Jews, which could be construed as making American Jews “less than American” – and then equates it to the official state policy of Nazi Germany. The Executive order says no such thing.

POTUS Trump’s EO specifically mentions that Title VI law is flawed because while it DOES serve to protect against discrimination based on race, color or national origin, it provides NO PROTECTIION to those who are discriminated against because of their religion. There is a long history of Jewish (and Christian) students being harassed and discriminated against by both school faculties, school administrations, as well as hostile elements of various student bodies. Why? Because Jewish students want to express their Judaism and Pro-Israel sentiment freely on campuses. The long list of abuse that Jewish students have had to take from Pro-Muslim, BDS Groups, far right-wing and far left-wing anti-Semites is well documented and there is no shortage of YouTube video to prove it.

College Deans like Ms. Hass may not like the EO because it complicates their jobs by adding a layer of supervision – and financial penalties if they are not in compliance. The Department of Education has just release a preliminary study that indicates that American Universities have failed to report over $1.3 BILLION in funding originating from China, Russia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia and a more extensive study is now being conducted. It is suspected that some of that funding is being used to fund anti-Jewish scholars, support anti-Israel/anti-Jewish groups on campus, and possibly radicalize students while they are in college.

There is no ambiguity in this EO, and attempts to mislead the general public with outrageous interpretations, misstatements and wild conclusions – all of which reflect poorly on POTUS Trump are more about politics than reason. He is simply trying to protect American Jewish students under the name of religion instead of just “race, color and national origin”. The fact that POTUS Trump went out of his way to define anti-Semitism using the definition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance should indicate that the majority of the broad American Jewish Community accepts his definition - and it has nothing to do with nationality.

Europe and Germany deal with anti-Semitism under the umbrella of “hate crimes”, and is revising the laws to reflect the anti-Israel, anti-Jewish bias of the huge wave of illegal Muslim immigrants, some of which have committed the majority of barbaric terrorist acts against Jewish targets and institutions on the European mainland in recent years.

Unfortunately, America is divided among party lines, and the Jewish community, much like the Christian community - is equally as divided as the rest of the country. It is estimated that in 2016 between 35-40% of American Jews voted for President Trump, which is close to the national average of 50/50.

Shep Fargotstein is a 3^rd generation Memphian, is the head of Shepard Wealth Management of Raymond James, and is President and Founder of the Memphis Jewish Republican Coalition (MJRC). Anyone can join the MJRC via FaceBook.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-combating-anti-semitism/