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*My comment in the NYT got the gold-tab affixed to it today. No money involved, like they're paying Mr. Cohen, who consistently producing pieces like this:
NEW
YORK — Welcome to Weimar America: It’s getting restive in the beer
halls. People are sick of politics as usual. They want blunt talk. They
want answers.
Welcome
to an angry nation stung by two lost wars, its politics veering to the
extremes, its mood vengeful, beset by decades of stagnant real wages for
most people, tempted by a strongman who would keep all Muslims out and
vows to restore American greatness.
...
America, like Europe, is rattled by Islamic State terrorism and unsure
how to respond to the black-flagged death merchants. Its polarized
politics seem broken. The right of Donald Trump and the right of
France’s Marine Le Pen overlap on terrorism and immigration. On the
American left, Bernie Sanders sounds like nothing so much as a European
social democrat. But that’s another story.
...
The rise of the Islamic State, and the Western inability to contain it,
leads straight to the Islamophobia in which Trump and Le Pen traffic
with success. It would be hard to imagine an atmosphere better suited to
the politics of fear. Americans say they are more fearful of terrorism
than at any time since 9/11.
...
The unthinkable has happened in Europe. It is not impossible in America.
It
would be wrong not to take Trump very seriously. It would be
irresponsible. It would be to forget European history, from whose
fascist example he borrows. In Weimar America politics are not what they
were. The establishment looks tired. The establishment has not
understood the fact-lite theater of the contemporary world.
The
Weimar Republic ended with a clown’s ascent to power, a high-energy
buffoon who shouted loudest, a bully from the beer halls, a racist and a
bigot. He was an outsider given to theatrics and pageantry. He seduced
the nation of Beethoven. He took the world down with him.
===============
Jesus Christ, Mr. Cohen.
Enough with the Hitler comparables already.
Come, visit America before you go spewing forth your fears and attributing them to us.
Trump supporters, I believe, are just rejecting the stagnancy out of Washington this past decade. When we said we wanted Change, we were not kidding.
We didn't get it, so we're still pushing... and we vote too.
If America can secure Israel's borders, why not our own? If we can protect other people's citizens, why not our own? Haven't we waiting long enough for Washington to address the immigration dilemma that we are seeing in our own communities?
How can we expect citizens to assimilate and stand up for their rights, if they are not citizens and do not believe themselves worthy of being counted, or having any rights, particularly in the workplace?
Who benefits by continuing the status quo?
On the question of bigotry, who is benefitting by perpetuating the current affirmative action system that discriminates against some candidates based on the alleged "sins" of the past? Isn't inequality spiraling under this current system, whereby the elites get to pick and choose the winners, with the people's voices sidelined?
Change is coming... ready or not!
It's not the Hitler boogeyman that people like Mr. Cohen really fear. It's the idea of Change, whereby the elites leading their comfortable lives, jetsetting around the world and then calling for carbon taxes on the workers putting gas in their cars, might have to downsize too. Share the pain. Give up a little of their own, to open the door to needier others...
Someone is knocking, Mr. Cohen.
Why won't you let them in?
Here, Americans are getting ready for Christmas, celebrating Hanukkah in the Jewish communities, enjoying the rev-up to the winter sports season, and watching their children get excited by the end-of-the-year festivities and upcoming school holidays.
Does Mr. Cohen live in London or America? Has he established himself in an American community with roots? Or is he a citizen of the world, with no established traditions of his own -- familial, religious, or in his own American community?
Cake and cookie walks; plays and practiced pageantry; the ritual of cooking, and stocking the pantry (whether by hunting, or shopping)... does Cohen observe Americans participating in these activities in "weimar America"?
As we ready for the harshness of winter, which community has Mr. Cohen committed to? Does he lead a family, for which he is present daily, going to toil at work and sharing his daily bread?
Sometimes, when we try to "cheat" life, by lifting ourselves above others and jetting around finding the best the world has to offer, we miss out on life's simplicity. One family, growing old together and enjoying the young. One nation, (under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all). One Life (whereby in our monotheistic nation, some believe also in the life to come...)
Mr. Cohen needs to come visit the "other" America and Americans he scorns. He is fearful, and writing about that which he does not know.