A Question to Religious Zionists

Now that the Jerusalem elections are over and Nir Barkat has been elected as mayor with the help and support of an overwhelming majority of religious Zionists, my question to these religious Zionists(RZ) is why did you vote for him?

Almost all my RZ friends ( I am also a crotched kippa wearer) voted for Barkat because he was secular and they shuddered at the thought of voting for a Chareidi candidate. Why? What is behind this fear of the Chareidim? As someone who 1- has a lot of Chareidi family and 2-does a lot of volunteer work in the Chareidi sector, there is nothing to be afraid of. They are just like us. They face the same issues of raising their families, education issues, etc. that we do. So many will respond 'yeh, but they don't work and don't serve in the army.' Well the fact is that many of them do work, and last time I was in North Tel-Aviv there were a ton of army aged teenagers loitering around doing nothing but sipping lattes. After all it's become fashionable for secular Israeli kids not to serve in the IDF. Additionally, it has become widespread for RZ kids to stay in Yeshiva and keep on learning after Hesder is over being supported by their parents.

Correct me if I'm wrong but for religious Jews of all stripes the army isn't the end all. I always thought that the keeping Torah and Mitzvos and not wanting to give away the Land of Israel were the most important aspects of our religion. The fact is that because we share a common Torah, we have much more in common with Chariedim than we do with the secular.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a big fan of 'can't we all just get along,' but in this case it just kills me that we can't. We have a common base (i.e. the Torah) that should automatically bring us together. Take a minute and speak with a Chareidi, and I'll bet you will find that he won't bite, and that you have a lot in common. Much more in common that you have with someone from Ramat Aviv Gimmel.