Lest we forget....

Hannah Arendt observed "modern antisemitism grew in proportion as traditional nationalism declined."

Arendt pointed to an observation made by Alexis de Tocqueville regarding human nature. de Tocqueville's study of the French Revolution is as revealing as his study of our democracy.

In Arendt's formulation, "neither opression or exploitation as such is ever the cause for resentment; wealth without visible function is much more intolerable because nobody can understand why it is tolerated." (The Origins of Totalitarianism)

Does this describe our country today? Wealth without purpose? without function?

How many times have we heard Thomas Pecksniff Friedman tell us just the opposite? How many times has Friedman written the word "humiliation" in his commentary to explain the difficulties in the Middle East?

In Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov has a "fearful dream" about a powerless "peasant's nag," yoked to a wagon it cannot budge, which is beaten to death by an angry mob of brutal drunks. Is that horrible imagery so very different from Arendt's description of why the French nobility was slaughtered in droves?

Who does not disdain a cowering, wimpering dog?