The Mahatma put it best:
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.” God speed, House Speaker Pelosi and the SDNY.
107
"As the three-decade mark of the fall of the Berlin Wall approaches, free speech must be safeguarded with great tenacity, for when it dies, as when truth dies, the worst becomes possible and probably inevitable."
Free speech is worhless to people who lack the cognitive structures to distinguish fact from fiction. -Propaganda from objective truth.
Roughly half the voters in America -seduced by propaganda -bear witnes to that observation as they voted for a dangerous imbecile to become their manchild-in-chief.
Democracy does not work iwithin that paradigm!
One is put in mind of H.L. Mencken: -- “As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
When the political class degrades to the level of the ignorant rabble we are at the mercy of the worst of us!
15
“Education, education, education” -- Magdalena Adamowicz
“solidarity” -- Pawel Adamowicz
“We stand with the defenders of liberty everywhere. . . . If Communism prevails, that will threaten all liberal democracies" -- Nathan Law
“If you don’t fight for democracy, you don’t deserve it” -- Kassem Eid
“Banks were too big to fail and people too small to matter” -- Paul Polman
"More Hungarians believe they have seen an unidentified flying object than believe they have met a refugee” -- Ivan Krastev
"I am a Jew of South African descent raised in Britain, shaped by France, an American now. . . . I am a bridge not a wall person. How could I be anything else?" -- Roger Cohen
Moving and powerful words to remember.
"Words are fine, but without deeds they fade into the mist" -- Roger Cohen
13
Read it and weep.
3
Yes, in this predicament before death, be a gardner, be a bridge
7
Lindo, gracias
4
Thank you, Mr. Cohen, for this. Donald Trump is the severest menace to the world and to us, Americans.
After nearly four years of this obnoxious political character, we Americans should—and would if we really loved our country—your country—examine afresh why we allowed a minority of voters to decide the national narrative, to entrust to a moron the complexities of all that’s promising.
The citizens of Russia and China, for example, have really no say in how their countries are run. We do—and chose stupidly. We may repeat our folly.
A thriving nation is built upon wisdom and philosophy and deep belief in the human condition’s ability to climb out of the cave and find the sunlight.
It’s getting late.
8
As Roger Cohen takes pride that he is a New Yorker, he should worry more how unsafe New York has become. This morning, four people were shot dead in a club. In the past week, a lunatic beat four homeless people to death, and another lunatic grabbed a stranger child and smashed his head on the pavement, critically injuring him.
These shocking crimes should shock all journalists who claim to be liberal. I care far more that my wife can walk the streets of NYC in safety than what happens in distant countries.
2
Thank you Roger.
your pandering to trump by attacking Obama and Hillary helped elect him. Shame on you
2
God help us!
Fantastic column Roger Cohen.
2
CHAOS TV STAR Trump works for Putin to crush stupid America & Europe! Putin keeps winning his global CYBER WAR every-which-way. Dump PROPAGANDA-TV Trump.
4
“There has been a massive failure of elites to understand the new cleavages.”
Well, yes and no. The problem with the elites is that 90% of them are very well trained even if they went to college and only 10% of them are truly educated. Anyone who is educated has known for decades the cleavage that has happened. The 80% has gone along having children and planning for retirement and not noticing much of anything else.
*****
As someone who is the son of Greek Immigrant who's family was Asia Minor Greeks for likely a 1000 years or more, I always feel for displaced groups. My family lost everything when they were told to leave Turkey after a 1000 years or die.
******
There used to be a saying that Americans would do the right thing after trying everything else first. It looks like that old saying is dead as Americans are no longer trying do the right thing period.
2
This is a good article.
But, there's "Just one more thing," as Lt Colombo would say.
The phrase "Free World" miseducates Americans about what is going on.
The "Free World" is what the West called itself during the Cold War. The Unfree World was the exclusive domain of Stalin.
He killed anywhere from 10 million to 30 million people, including my Ethnic Russian grandfather and uncle. Let's stop there, since the list goes on and on, as it does for your family.
To say "Free World" is to activate the anti-Russian reflex built during fifty years of Cold War, and thirty years of the Tsarist regime.
That reflex has led our US know-it-alls to a host of inanities. Putin is Stalin. Russians will never understand democracy. Russians are by nature conquerors. Russia is the return of the world-endangering USSR of 1950 or 1960.
C'mon. We're not Martians.
Putin has killed hundreds, or a few thousand. Stalin killed ten million or more. He was a thousand times worse than Putin.
Putin is like Pinochet, not Stalin. A bloody tin horn, not the Antichrist.
The Russian People freed East Europe, Ukraine, Latvia, and the rest by destroying the deadly machine that could reoccupy them at will.
We made "the greatest bloodless revolution in history to remove that Soviet regime," as George F. Kennan, architect of Containment, said.
We'll do it again with the present pipsqueak regime.
How about realistic descriptors: the Less Screwed Up World, and the More Screwed Up World?
Oh...! to defend that grand "international order: freedom and openness; the rule of law; human rights; democracy and self-determination; security; and free-market opportunity."
Such noble thoughts...
What the US defends/promotes is its Top Dog Dominance and Capitalism, forget about the US defending/promoting democracy except when it is used as cover for the US innumerable regime change efforts.
At present, I doubt that the US can lead the world in any positive way, and this has nothing to do with Trump.
As much as I find Trump sleazy and racist, I find the Democrats reaction way more appalling, and subversive of "democracy", the best democracy money can buy...
The blaming of Russia for Trump's election and the attempted coup against Trump that started the day after he was elected makes US "democracy" look like crap.
There are very real reasons people voted for Trump, remember many Obama voters voted for Trump.
And Trump's campaign promise, “to get out of these ridiculous Endless Wars” is admirable to many.
Of course the NYT, the Establishment, Republican and Democrat thrive on Forever War, and Trump's wanting "to bring the troops home" is a potent reason for the ongoing coup attempt.
Today's NYT article painting presidential candidate Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard as a tool of white nationalists and Russians, because she does not believe in the so beloved Forever Wars, is pathetic.
Forget democracy, the US worships Capitalism and War, and it has led the world poorly.
2
"Banks, too big to fail, people, too small to matter". That was 2008, it is still now. The big difference, the world is dumber. The one prediction that the dystopian writers of the 40's missed was the nature of the outcome. In Orwells it was scarcity. I believe the dystopian outcome we got is plenty. We have the surveillance state ala Orwell. We have our 2 minutes of hate, now pretty much 24 7. We have endless war where the allies and enemies change frequently. We have Big Brother leaders with enemies. But we also have plenty. True it is plenty of crap, but plenty nonetheless. So my point as it applies to Cohens piece, education may be the key but it needs to do a better job.
2
"The banks were too big to fail,and people were too small to matter." Then a free market is the answer? The free market produced the grievances that led us here today. The Reagan/Clinton/Greenspan/Norquist programs led to the the crash;Cheney,Ryan,McConnell led to our neglect of the planet,and one another. Unless we can figure out a way to legislate and control greed, we are screwed.
5
VERY good article. Only one part that I would consider changing:
"Today, American patriotism, as I understand it, requires this: the defense of the Constitution, the rule of law, truth, freedom and the planet itself against the ravages issuing from the White House and its increasingly deranged occupant."
...should perhaps be...
"Today, American patriotism, as I understand it, requires this: filling in the holes in the Constitution, bipartisan judicial nomination, universal Education, better controls over social media and lobbying, and active participation on global Teams to protect our planet against the ravages of authoritarianism, consumerism and the willful ignorance of corporate greed."
The occupant of the White House and his crony adminstration are not the problem, they are a manifestation of much more serious deficiences; just be thankful somebody with an actual Plan didn't become "King".
In the end, if it's done properly, you may end up thanking him for showing you the massive shortcomings in that quasi-biblical constitution cobbled together centuries ago in a different reality.
Freedom is not only faith-based; it requires good management and consensual updates.
Time to get up and get to work...at every local, regional and national level. Join good organisations...
...Planet Earth wants You!
5
"A society that bans Winnie the Pooh, because of a supposed resemblance to its Great Leader, is a society with some serious issues."
Hard to argue that one. It's also hard to argue that a supposedly democratic country in which the candidate who spends more money campaigning wins 90% of the time, doesn't have a serious democracy problem.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/04/04/think-money-doesnt-matter-in-elections-this-chart-says-youre-wrong/
64
all true, but this hogwash......
....Alone among nations the United States could make me an insider overnight. That is why New York is my home....
mr cohen could never be potus, for example, yet in the past generation both australia and canada have had prime ministers born outside the country--and it didn't matter if either of their parents were from either.
there are other examples of countries that would/could make you an insider--whatever that means--overnight.
and they just might be easier to get into than the usa.
1
Hold the bridge, Roger, against those on the left rushing to declare that words are violence because they may evoke bad feelings.
1
America was founded by white Anglo-Saxon Protestant men who owned property including their enslaved black Africans and the lands and natural resources stolen from brown aboriginal First Nations human beings.
The Founding Fathers didn't consider women, nor Africans, nor Asians, nor First Nations nor men without property to be divinely naturally created equal persons with certain unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
America is not and was never meant to be a democracy. America is a very peculiar kind of republic.
A divided limited different power constitutional republic of united states. Where the Senate, the Electoral College and Cabinet members and federal judges appointed without the advice and consent of the House of Representatives stand against democracy.
From the birth of the American nation in violent revolution to it's renewal in violent civil war to it's peaceful resurrection in peacefully civil rights black African Americans have been a physically identifiable enslaved and separate and unequal minority.
By every positive socioeconomic educational health housing political measure black African Americans are still second class citizens.
Unless and until black Africans in America are equal in every phase of civil secular American life, then America is not the home of the brave nor the land of the free deserving the blessings of any fair, just, moral and objective god.
3
cemented the link between America ... and peace.
How where when?
1
One important correction: Winnie the Pooh never said "People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day." See https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/03/08/nothing-impossible/. Winnie the Pooh is much more sincere than that. He is clever and funny, but he isn't *intentionally* clever or funny.
“Es gibt nichts Gutes, außer man tut es” famously said the German poet Erich Kästner, (whose books were burned by the Nazis in 1933) - roughly translated as “nothing good exists unless you act accordingly”. So all the uplifting Sunday speeches don’t mean much unless we actively defend, by educating, arguing, voting and insisting over and over on our liberal values, our democracies and their merits.
6
Throughout history, most countries have had authoritarian regimes ruled by dictators whatever they called their particular version of it. Among the most well known examples in the 20th century were Mao in China, Stalin in the U.S.S.R., and Hitler in Germany, but there are many less well known as well. In the 21st century, Putin in Russia, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Egypt, and currently in the news, president Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, used a facade of democratic elections to become an autocratic ruler. Fortunately, in the U.S., we never have had an authoritarian president. Trump, however, clearly wants to become our first in some form, and he is testing the boundaries of authoritarian rule in many ways. Trump has two major strengths in his efforts to rule as an American dictator: (1) Trump is by far the most effective political demagogue in American history; and (2) he has what is known as a mass psychology base, in this case tens of millions of people who feel righteous and powerful without having to think about if what Trump says is true or what he does is right or even legal. If you want to know more, I suggest reading The Mass Psychology of Fascism by Wilhelm Reich.
2
If you were truly a bridge, Mr. Cohen, you would write in a far more evenhanded manner than you do. I refer here specifically to your commentary on Israel as well as its conflict with its neighbors.
1
The Free World was like a healthy body full of malfeasance that could sprout back at anytime. And it did. America fought it in a civil war, when slavery for some was the harbinger of slavery for all. The Allies fought for it in WWII, using a monster like Stalin to beat a monster like Hitler. There are countless examples of lesser scale but equal form. Freedom beats back authoritarians and nationalism, but it never ends. (That is why we like Harry Potter.)
The world is never perfect. And it is our turn to stand firm and push back at an ugly, strong and fetid authoritarian push in the US and abroad. Authoritarianism is part of us, denial and arrogance will make us slow at recognizing the internal threat. Russia is manipulating our own weaknesses.
We will remain a beacon of the Free World if we fight for it. The freedom of press has a critical role here, but there must be a population informed enough to digest the news. And things do look a little bleak on that front, but fight we will.
4
So, no Kurds on Omaha Beach?
Who knew?
2
Many times in the history of this country we have had to choose between being a "bridge" or a "wall." In my lifetime these have included instances such as McCarthyism, Communism, Racism, lust for war, rejection of Peace, religious extremism, anti-feminism, stupidity, greed, jealousy, cheating, denial of evil, extreme patriotism. It is hard to stand at the bridge and not be captivated by the siren call of the other. To be a good American today we all need to be at the bridge or the wall will engulf us and we will lose our freedom.
3
Roger Cohen: eloquent as ever.
4
Having first heard of this forum through your reporting I am left with one question. Who from the United States spoke of our declining democracy?
2
I consider myself to be the caster of one of those 2.7 million votes that didn’t matter in the last election. I hope you aren’t suggesting the fight for Democracy takes place at the ballot box...
1
"... we're tired of Woodrow's flowery speeches, an' we're tired of hearin' about wars an' ideals an' democracy an' how fine an' noble we all are .... We're tired of hearin' bunk that doesn't pay an' we want to hear some bunk that does -- an' we're goin' to vote for the crook that gives it to us. . . . Do you know what we all want -- what we're lookin' for?" he demanded, glowering brutally around at them. "We want a piece of the breast with lots of gravy
-- an' the boy that promises us the most is the one we're for! . . .
Thomas Wolfe, "Of Time And The River," 1935.
6
I think Roger Cohen understands better than most that the current waves of nationalism are not simply bad ideas, but are natural responses to unfettered globalization and the disruption it has brought to many communities, especially outside the big cities.
In the UK, townspeople see their lives upended as waves of immigrants coming through Europe overwhelm them with different languages and customs, and overall different cultures. They were happy with British culture and simply wanted to keep their pleasant lives. The Brexit vote passed mainly because of too much immigration.
In the US, manufacturing jobs have been offshored to places with dirt-cheap labor (China, Mexico, Bangladesh). Meanwhile, millions of undocumented immigrants (approximately 21 million, at last count) have changed the languages, customs, and cultures in which folks are immersed. In small towns, this is unwelcome change.
Similar cultural dislocations have been occurring all over Europe -- in Turkey, Germany, France, Austria, Sweden, almost everywhere. Even the most liberal-minded societies have been thrown into turmoil by excessive immigration.
Elite metropolitan types tend to dismiss such reactions and label them with pejoratives such as racism, nativism, and hate.
Donald Trump got into office mainly on the issue of being against illegal immigration. Dems and Republicans agree that our immigration system is a disaster. If the Dem response is simply to open the borders, Trump might win again.
2
“To the States or any one of them, or any city of the States,
Resist much, obey little,
Once unquestioning obedience, once fully enslaved,
Once fully enslaved, no nation, state, city of this earth,
ever afterward resumes its liberty.”
- Walt Whitman
35
Thank you for your reminder of one of the most incredible years of my young life. However, the tide that has flowed ever since has been a stark reminder that the acquisition of wealth is a more powerful force than any ideology that a political scientist, historian or philosopher could ever imagine.
61
The scientific method - questioning, testing, measuring, drawing conclusions, and reconsidering them in the light of fresh evidence - is precisely what we mean by free speech. Democracy is the political realization of the scientific method.
109
Heed the second law of thermodynamics — isolated systems tend toward disorder. The key is to choose and promote engagement over isolation.
124
I was 19 thirty years ago. The fall of the Berlin Wall seemed so hopeful. The world was getting smaller. My world was getting bigger. I traveled to Russia - and was amazed at how much the parents visibly loved their children. I had been raised to be fearful of Russians my entire life. Fearful they would nuke my country. But I began to see that governments are not their people.
Now, I'm middle-aged and the biggest threat I see today is the climate crisis, ecosystems disappearing, species extinction, refugees in the making.
I wish we as a human species had begun to address this climate crisis thirty years ago. People knew it was coming. Why didn't we? Is it too late? The Free World? The Hurting World more like it. Broken beyond repair?
172
@Kerry Girl - Pointy-headed climate scientists have been warning about climate change for decades. In the 70's there was a growing chorus of scientists calling for policy steps to curb carbon emissions.
Yet, 40 years ago, one of (R)onald (R)eagan's first acts was to rip Jimmy Carter's solar panels off of the WH roof. Some of us were clued in on climate change that long ago and have lived our lives accordingly - not very many, but some.
Even today, when it is clear that we are making Our Only Home unlivable as fast as we can, very few of us are willing to make even simple, easy changes to our over-consumptive lifestyles that would change our path to perdition. To the contrary, we drive more, fly more, eat beef, build oversized, under-insulated McMansions and overheat/cool them, buy gas-guzzling SUVs and pickup trucks because, you know, cheap gas, blah and blah.
We're Fossil Fuel addicts and we really don't care about the impacts, as long as we get our daily fix of gas, oil, coal…
30
@Kerry Girl
Two words, one name: John Sununu.
And in my personal expectation, we are likely too late.
5
@Kerry Girl
Yes, people knew the climate crisis was coming. My daughter wrote an essay about the Greenhouse Effect when she was in high school in the early 80's. But I didn't take up the cause then as I do now.
Now after many Earth Day observances and real-time fires and floods and famines, I'm convinced that this is the challenge of our times. How do we convince the fossil fuel investors? How do we convince the governments, some of whom rely on coal to lift them into the modern world.
Greta Thunberg is making a difference. She has thought about this catatastrophe in the making even though she is young. And yes, Roger she comes from a democracy where she is allowed to speak out. One important caveat is that those who reap the profits from drilling and refining and transforming it into fuel and plastics can make their voices heard above ours.
So we can only hope that those in power will get the message and rescue our world before it is too late.
13
The problem with the “fighters” for freedom like Cohen is that they always outsource the actual fighting.
You can be sure that the next time these brave advocates for freedom argue us into another war, it will be other people’s children and grandchildren who die or come back damaged.
Cohen is a big advocate for “free markets”. But there are no “market corrections“ when his advocacy goes astray. He and his will not pay the bill.
1
The election of John F Kennedy was the first presidential election that pulled me in, caused me to read and follow politics. I have been a close observer of our polity, and at times an activist, since that election. What I have learned over that fifty and some odd years is that the world we live in now was not stumbled into, it was manufactured with intent.
Slowly but surely oligarchs - those whose primary motivation has been to protect and increase their great wealth - have carefully and methodically created a world that meets their needs. For the most part their efforts were done without notice, buying influence in county and city governments, state legislatures the congress and the media. Slowly but relentlessly, through thousands of small acts meant to change attitudes, rules and laws they built the polity we now have.
It will take just as long if not longer to rebuild our trust in self-government and our sense of unity. And it won't get done with just a change in sentiment. It means attending to thousands of changes in our rules and laws to make them serve the common good and a commitment by each of us to at least try to act with some kindness, generosity and courage toward each other.
22
The following sentences from your column seem so clear and powerful to me that had I been your editor I would have urged you to conclude with them:
“It is not the prerogative of the globalized city dweller to ignore the concerns of all those living on what the French call the periphery. Democracies have the merit of giving expression to discontent. This is what we have witnessed in the recent nationalist wave: a reaction by the invisible and marginalized to globalization’s masters of the universe.”
“‘Life,’ as some sage once observed, ‘is a predicament that precedes death.’ Our struggles are not as new or as different as we imagine. The tension between freedom and equality is not new. The struggle between humanity and the machine is not new. The human susceptibility to folly is not new. What is new, above all, is the means we now have, if only we would use them right, to build a connected world of dignity and decency.”
Then again, as to the last two quoted sentences, it’s still we humans, susceptible to folly, who are using these new means we now have. We all still have to figure out for ourselves, hopefully with the aid of family and community and trustworthy institutions, how to survive and how to best live our lives under the current circumstances whatever they may be.
1
What a beautiful “Cri de Coeur” in the form of this touching Op-Ed! - Thanks Roger.
It definitely resonates with me because I’m a Jesuit educated Hindu with a global mindset. My parents were very education focused: Father was a lawyer and Mother was a teacher of European history. My grandfather was a Shakespearean scholar. Ergo from a very young age, I was indoctrinated by the notion that “Education is the key”.
Education opens our eyes and we realize that we are all human beings with equal rights. Democracies promise us these undeniable rights yet Plato once opined that too much freedom can lead to anarchy. I think that’s what we are experiencing now - to a certain extent.
However, I think - it’s a temporary phase of human evolution in this highly digitized and post-literate world where people generally don’t read and reflect anymore but mostly react to Twitter feeds. It’s a form of existentialism analogous to what Sartre described: “Reacting to the emergencies of life, in a non-mental way.” This is a perfect setting for our narcissistic, solipsistic and non-mental President with a Twitter addiction who is essentially a perfidious provocateur masquerading as the US President.
I’m optimistic that this phase will pass and we will cherish our democracy by banishing demagoguery. Finally, we should all view Democracy the way Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. once described Democracy: “Your right to swing your fist ends when other person’s nose begins”.
Liberty is not license.
10
Roger Cohen’s writing remains the most beautiful and important among all the voices of the resistance. His is a voice of hope and promise even in a crazy, dark time. Perhaps it takes an immigrant who could live anywhere, but has chosen this great city in this still great country to best articulate both what is wrong and what is right in America as we move towards our reckoning in 2020.
Let the bridge people reign!
15
Would that your words were carried on the wind and entered the White House to be breathed in by the occupant in chief and circulated to his brain and incorporated in his thoughts and actions. Not likely, but one can only wish. A different President wouldn’t hurt either.
Thanks for this thoughtful piece.
4
Democracy does have a price.
It’s called the rule of law.
Without enforcement, one will rise
whose power will be raw.
Democracy does have a price.
It is called education.
Without it, people will despise
the few who lead a nation.
Democracy does have a price.
To thrive we need to vote.
If we don’t vote, a world of lies
and mistrust we promote.
Democracy does have a price.
Responsibility.
Without it, hatred in disguise
will kill civility.
Democracy does have a price.
You have to fight for it.
Do not, and to a world of vice
your life you will commit.
6
I read a column sometime ago that talked about WWII as a battle between illiberalism and liberalism and now it seems this battle is not over. I would like see a lot more discussion about these two words and what they mean to our future. Personally I think one leads to bullies telling everyone what to do and the other opens the door to libraries of hope. I just have a hard time thinking that my father fought for liberal democracy only to have the likes of trump want to throw it all away.
3
When I think of this President, I think of little, fat King Louis XIV and his rights from God and no one else.
On the other hand, the details of the current impeachment inquiry will bring out more high crimes from this guttersnipe Trump, but it's only an election that will remove him and allow us to begin healing.
Roger, I can feel the tears flowing from my eyes, too, on what Trump has wrought.
7
"Banks too big to fail and people too small to matter"
"Massive failure of elites to understand..."
Yes, yes, yes.
But why did we get Trump and not Bernie?
When the problem is so obvious - government serves the rich and ignores everyone else - how do you get the reaction to that to be the election of a "billionaire" con man who goes on to serve the rich and ignore everyone else.
How can more free speech and education be the answer? Hint, it's not.
Follow the money.
10
Re A society that bans Winnie the Pooh, because of a supposed resemblance to its Great Leader, is a society with some serious issues.
I agree
That brings up the question : Should we trade with such a society. Free trade with China has made China more autocratic, more belligerent, and less democratic - from Xinjiang to Hong Kong
And more free trade , will it make more so. Not less
What is your position on this , Roger ?
Let us know. Thank you
2
“Today, American patriotism, as I understand it, requires this: the defense of the Constitution, the rule of law, truth, freedom and the planet itself against the ravages issuing from the White House and its increasingly deranged occupant.”
The problem for us seems to be how to be able to get that deranged occupant and his supporters out of power and be sure that their replacements live by these principles. Choosing and working to elect the right leaders can also be considered an act of patriotism.
7
As a young cameraman, I witnessed the tear-down of the Berlin Wall. My footage from that time, a peaceful event of 48 hours, is still being used by TV-Stations worldwide on many occasions. Although highly impressed back then (with an elevating, almost patriotic feeling), I must admit that I couldn't oversee the whole impact at that time.
But one thing was clear for me and everyone else I met: the clash between free and open societies in the West and unfree, closed nations in the East was coming to an end. Not so much.
Many of the then caged East-Germans, leaving since then for 30 years in freedom, vote now for authoritarian politics, essentially trying to trim back society.
This contempt for freedom is far-spread amongst those who should know better. But these people are not alone. The nationalistic, authoritarian German party AFD had more voters among the young voters in Saxony and Thuringia (ex-East German states) than any other party.
Freedom is a hard sell today, so is democracy as its enabler. We've got to stand up and fight. Where's the next wall to tear down?
20
@Hans von Sonntag
It is a hard sell because freedom comes with responsibility and accountability, it is not everyone’s cup of tea. It is easier to submit to a ideological narrative that has all the answers in neat slogans and find blame everywhere else except ourselves.
“Man will go to any expedient to avoid the real labor of thinking.”
2
Thank you Mr Cohen. Beautifully written. There are billions of people in this world with good will. I hope we can find the leaders to get us out of this mess.
18
These are noble words and noble values, but Mr. Cohen has forgotten that before we can be a paragon of democracy in the world, we must first achieve it at home.
Elections do not in and of themselves create a democracy. While we rightfully criticize "show" elections in some countries, we are dangerously trending in that direction ourselves.
We are the only Western democracy that does not have direct election of the president.
We have steadily withdrawn protections designed to insure non-discrimination in elections. In response, states have decimated elections rolls, gerrymandered districts, punished felons by removing their franchise, erected barriers to registration, used voting machines that can easily be hacked and shut down polling stations without notice.
In other words, if American elections were subject to international standards our democratic process would receive a "D."
Add to this the enormous, unregulated influence of money on the process and what we have is our own shadow oligarchy controlling and corrupting the democratic process.
The only thing that our two parties agree on is that they must pass laws making it impossible for any other political parties to emerge.
We have not yet sunk so low that we face mob violence against political leaders. Yet, this is exactly what Trump has predicted and his prediction sounds very close to an actual call for violence.
The "free" world at 30 doesn't look so free. Neither does democratic America at 230.
29
@Drspock
Exactly!
A powerful statement. One that should be nailed to the door Donald Trump enters and exits every day.
And nailed also to the doors of all of us who complain about the man but cannot figure out how to do more than complain. We have to figure out what fighting for democracy means in America, when its "leaders" are destroying it. A hope for a Democratic vote may not be enough.
15
We have laws in this nation that guarantee freedom and liberty. But laws are like contracts. They are only as good as the paper the paper they are written on if no one pays any attention to their words. This is the threat nationalism, totalitarianism, and more specifically Donald Trump, are to the world.
Our president and his dictatorial cohorts openly ignore those words. This is a grave threat to freedom everywhere. They claim that they are the law. They claim that the law is what they say it is. They openly flaunt their self imposed powers. They do it out in the open as if that makes it right and legal. They tear up treaties and agreements on a whim with nothing to replace them with. They surround themselves with sycophants. Then worst of all, they appoint chief law enforcement personnel who gladly implement and protect their respective dear leaders.
Trump has done all of these things. So has just about every dictator in the world.
Freedom is under assault, not from the threat of bullets, but the threat of propaganda, lies and deceit. You see, these dictators are often elected into power. They are masters of mind control. They manipulate just enough people to get elected. How? They tell them what they want to hear, which is victimization by others and especially minorities.
This is exactly the playbook of Donald Trump. Our nation must now fight for democracy. We must fight for those words that he ignores.
30
@Bruce Rozenblit
It’s the playbook of many of the churches too, where you’ll find the roots!
2
30 years ago we were told not to believe that the Soviet Union was breaking up or that Communism was defeated, it was all a sham to lure us into a false sense of security.
30 years later the oligarchs run the former Soviet Union. Using all that the communist taught them so skillfully that they now control 10 Downing St, the White House and who knows what else.
4
Freedom is more than speech or the vote. Having enough healthy food to eat, a safe place to raise a family, health care from birth to the end of life, an education to the highest level attainable and dignity in a job that pays a living wage are essential if a society wants to take true advantage of free speech and a vote that counts.
Free speech as insanely available and routinely untruthful as it has become today is of little value to the unhealthy, under-educated and deprived citizen. A nation whose people may vote but violates such basic tenets of democracy such as majority rules and one equal vote for every citizen, is hardly a genuine democracy.
4
Yes, “free speech must be safeguarded” and “freedom of expression” should protect ideas we hate. However, it need not protect hatred as an idea. The American people were seduced by that notion in 2016 and it has brought us to the edge of catastrophe.
1
Mr. Cohen writes: "The fall of the Berlin Wall and the wars of Yugoslavia’s destruction were pivot points of my life that cemented the link between America and freedom, America and peace."
It is true that Trump does not reflect that America, but equally true that today's Democratic party does not either.
I would like this column better if Mr.Cohen could acknowledge that reality. It is crucial to reasoned thinking about what America looks like today.
@Roy Rogers
The response I have to your comment is for you and all Americans to ask is which party best represents the America Cohen referenced.
6
@John Thomas
That is what Americans must decide. I wanted to make a point that the columnist neglected.
@Roy Rogers
Very vague.. I would agree that many members of the Democrat Party (not sure it is so democratic) -- are more "republican in value-- everything for the rich rather than for the people - Warren and perhaps Sanders ... (Apparently the shift to the huge income inequality began with JFK and certainly with Clinton and Obama.) But perhaps the real culprit is the current system of predatory capitalism, the consumer (garbage) economy we have today? Forty acres and a mule is what black families were promised post Civil War. Many ended up as tenant farmers. We have shifted our factories overseas starting in the 1960s. People who have much much less produce goods for us. Time to think about the globe and not just ourselves.. and yes, Trump is a bad,bad man. -- but at least in the emperor's new clothes. Some were much better at covering up!
Roger, while not on (your) point here, the parrot story is truly apt, not merely in the context of your piece, but in most of academia today. Non-orthodox views, however expressed, if expressed, can and do destroy careers. Free speech on campus is dead, and this is as frightening (if not more so) than anything this particular iteration of our numbskull commander-in-chief can wreak, as we are facing a generation of deeply intolerant identitarians, who demonstrate, repeatedly, an almost gleeful pleasure in shutting down speech they don’t want to hear.
7
A Disneyish collection of bon mots which nevertheless lacks the acuity of Mickey or Donald. Still, the conclusion that he would not live anywhere else than NYC should go down well with readers.
3
@G Rayns On the contrary. Roger Cohen is a remarkable citizen of the world and a spokesman for us all. And this includes London as well as any other location. As for Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, I do like those characters too.
8
I’m sure in another life, he could have, might have chosen London as well.
“Digitized democracy in the 21st century cannot be the democracy of the 20th century. (...) What is new, above all, is the means we now have, if only we would use them right, to build a connected world of dignity and decency.“
This is so true. After having experienced the internet delivering these promises in the ‘90s and ‘00s, it is sad to see how governments as well as Google, Facebook, Amazon & Co. are transforming it into a tool to surveil and control citizens.
6
“Digitized democracy in the 21st century cannot be the democracy of the 20th century.”
I agree with the fundamental insight.
We have invented the internet and then social media and believed for too long that it will enhance what has been the strength of humanity: collaboration for the good of everyone.
But it actually did the opposite: it fragmented society into silos and echo chambers and it fosters hate, resentment and outrage.
We cannot keep our planet inhabitable for humanity if we can’t built a digitized democracy. We need a rapid adaptation of our cultural evolution, faster than ever before. We need to contain the digital demons we unleashed inadvertently.
7
As a child I was taught that two documents state the truths of the American experiment, our Constitution, yes, but as centrally our Declaration to the world of those truths we hold to be most evident:
“IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Lincoln was right when he reminded us at Gettysburg that the struggle isn’t over. It wasn’t in 1863 and it isn’t now.
“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us ...that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
The tale of heroic hope is as old as Camelot, as old as Cervantes, as old as Athens. Never give up, never give in, never retreat, never surrender.
15
Both beautifully written.
2
Education, Education, Education, indeed. I assume the Republican Senators are educated and look where that is going.
4
Mitch McConnell has a law degree but that’s not education in the sense meant; it’s just a means many use to further their grasping self-centeredness.
What’s being asked for is the education that opens hearts and minds, liberating our innate humanity, curiosity and compassionate problem-solving.
7
Re: free speech. It is not necessary to tolerate the intolerable. We should not tolerate incitement to violence. We should not tolerate incitement to criminal acts. We should not tolerate hate. No right is unconditional (except perhaps Americans’ right to own and use deadly weapons). Free speech has its limits too.
It is worth reading Karl Popper’s brilliant work on intolerance.
4
@Stevenz
Another applicable quote comes from John Rawls:
“While an intolerant sect does not itself have title to complain of intolerance, its freedom should be restricted only when the tolerant sincerely and with reason believe that their own security and that of the institutions of liberty are in danger.”
The tolerant have sincere reasons to believe that their security and institutions of liberty are endangered by Republicans and the Trump administration.
1
Mr. Cohen's writing is an elegant and worthy complement to Ms. Yovanovitch' courage and dignity. No small deed.
Mr. Cohen and Ms. Yovanovitch both offer a first breath of clear mountain air come through the three-year stench of lies, dishonor and xenophobic hate fanned by McConnell, Trump, Barr, Pompeo and their congressional allies. They show us how small are these men–always men– sitting in the chairs of their betters who believed in America and worked for the possibility of a better world. They shine a clear beacon on the real and worthy goals of America.
It is good to be reminded that the idea of America is not to mistake cruelty for strength or a celebration of the personal pettiness of the current occupants who have co-opted patriotism for personal gain. They are smallest of Americans. They are soon to be gone.
11
Now is the moment for those with sufficient wit and courage to stand against tyranny in all its guises - Vladimir Putin and his acolyte, Donald Trump, the Chinese Communist dictatorship, the Turkish strongman, the North Korean strongman, the Hungarian strongman, the Republican Party under strongman Moscow Mitch - all who would subjugate anyone. Now is the time to fight. Failure against these tyrants is not acceptable.
10
'Free' world at 30 sounds good, but we are still far away from the ideal, where we may be able to do away with the current social and economic inequality, especially when justice is our goal, starting with the least among us, and certainly the poor, the brown and black, and women; and Aboriginal people, from whom we stole their land and resources, and from where we go on downgrading Earth's health by fouling our Environment (i.e. Climate Change) by exploiting gas and coal, as if there was no tomorrow. If we want democracy, and the dialogue among all of us it entails, we must change; and if you are a bridge and not the Trumpian wall, we better get some action in that regard, and throw complacency away. Today, not tomorrow. Trump, crazy as a loon, may be the 'just' representative of a corporate world intent in exploiting this planet to extinction...unless we develop the will to stop it. Real freedom, to protect each other, and able to enjoy life by saving it.
3
“If you don’t fight for democracy, you don’t deserve it.” Repeat often. Act on it. Make it a norm in every society, especially those under threat from actual or would-be tyrants. Including America. The stakes of not doing so are higher than anyone who has not experienced life in a dictatorship can imagine.
2
Mr. Cohen's columns always make we want hope our finest hours are ahead of us, but we have much work to do, and currently, we are a rudderless relic, a dormant beacon, a depressing slog of nepotism and vain absurdity.
The worst of the internet era's terrors are yet to come. Deep fakes will make spreading pure madness and conspiracy theory as easy as pie.
Education, education, education? Yes, but also leadership. we need sorted on both fronts.
4
In the last couple of years, right wing parties ran in UK, France, Netherlands & got more votes, but they didn't win. In the US our rw party and candidate did win. We're seeing the worsening results every day now.
Rejecting Trump by election isn't enough. We need explicit, official repudiation of this guy with his monarch complex, and his slavish courtiers.
Lay out just how our highest court aided in producing a monarch president. The conservative justices distorted our Constitution to work against us.
They pretended that any limits on wealthy donor campaign money is anti Free Speech per our revered 1st Amendment.
So they used our own Constitution against We the People, muffling our voice in politics, and amplifying the voice of the rich and powerful.
Once these contradictions to our founders' ideals take hold, then anything can happen, as we see. Swamp creatures swim up to the surface.
Most voters & many politicians want to reverse CU.
If our news media keeps avoiding even talking about this, then it's 'colluding' with the powerful to keep our politics favoring the powerful.
Our media is invested in our distortedsystem, getting big profits from campaign ads financed by rich donors. Many democracies ban paid election ads. We need to discuss this contrast and its ripple effects on our politics & democracy, as we go through the current American crisis.
7
the supporters of Trump feel left behind and Trump use that, may be they really are and how can we help ?
“But freedom of expression also protects — and perhaps above all protects — the ideas we hate.”
But this has limits. Your freedom ends where mine begins and vice versa. If you’re advocating the end of my freedom then freedom of expression doesn’t apply.
1
As you are in Greece the birth place of direct democracy, one man one vote, maybe it is time to do away with our flawed electoral college and return to the purest form of democracy.
7
Thank you, Mr.Cohen, your eloquent piece speaks to how crucial it is to fight for our constitutional democracy here and now. I encourage all to resist. If you are resisting this shamefully corrupt and autocratic-loving government we have in power, then step up your efforts. We need all hands on deck.
1
Beautifully expressed, powerful—and rays of hope in the midst of this horrible storm.
1
Roger has written a good piece, for star struck liberals. Our version of Faux News. Ultra left vs the ultra right. Things will happen. Whether good or bad depends upon your perspective.
3
@Robert Black So American democracy has degenerated to the point that speaking up for freedom is now labelled "far left".
Are the trolls winning?
2
Roger I always am grateful to hear your voice.
1
Thanks Roger, we need bridge people, ow more than ever before.
2
The discontent thst has been growing since 2008 is this: the robbers of our prosperity got clean away, Scot free. We watched as they looted our retirements, slashed pensions, illegally foreclosures on our houses and not one of them saw any jail time.
This is why people disconnected. They began to think it was futilely to even open their mouths. Unfortunately the same demographic who lost the most watched Fox News, who pointed their finger, NOT at the oligarchs who stole their future but at other marginalized and powerless people who aren’t in a strong position to fight back: immigrants, women, black people, gay people and even teachers were to blame.
This was done on purpose: a house divided cannot stand.
And Fox News long ago became the propaganda wing of the GOP, so when a slick con man ran for president to enrich himself and show off his brand, they went for it.
Now they’re stuck. They’re getting a steady diet of hate and resentment in their twilight years, and what a meal of empty calories it is.
6
Wonderful read.
I really hope you're being sarcastic about the Kurds being "unpardonably" absent at Normandy. If we're going to start retroactively judging stateless ethnic groups with no army, navy or airforce for their absence at particular military campaigns it's going to set an artificially high bar.
You might as well throw shade at the Quakers for not being at Stalingrad.
I know you probably are indeed being sarcastic but given that Trump and his fans take the idea at face value, maybe worth being a bit less subtle.
6
Donald Trump as an existential threat to America and his is an assault on our democratic system of government. History will see the two most interesting aspects of his reign of terror as follows: First, although there have always been men like Donald Trump, America has never had a political party (The GOP) that was willing to live under a totalitarian regime in order to stay in power. This is where the GOP and Trump are taking our nation. Second, the CIA, FBI and other security services have some bonafide patriots that are doing their jobs to protect our country from Donald Trump and his merry band of criminals and traitors. They know who and what he is. There are other career civil servants who are doing their part as well. All of these people must be protected and CELEBRATED by our country.
Importantly, when this is over, when he and his co-conspirators are in prison, we as a nation will have to put in place various legislation, so this cannot happen again. America must never have another Donald Trump.
9
The human animal, when it feels threatened, does what every other animal does. It fights or flees. If it stands and fights it has to be prepared to die. If it flees it lives only to fight some other day, but it lives. Trump is a deeply frightened animal, dangerous to the entire world, unless the world unites against him and even an animal as blind as he sees he has no choice but to flee.
@larry bennett
The other defensive responses, in addition to fight or flight, are freeze and collapse. If/when trump becomes overwhelmed in his attempt to fight the tsunami of evidence now coming forward in support of his unfitness for office, he could well resort to fleeing or completely shutting down. It seems likely he won't do this until he has exhausted every fight option he can find; this could become even uglier and more dangerous than it currently is. Preparations must be made for any and all of his defensive responses.
1
Democracy is messy and ugly, but it's always better than authoritarianism, nationalistic flag-waving, militarism, and the messianic cults of right-wing leadership.
Yes, it's hard to manage large numbers of people; some prefer messy democracy...others authoritarian 'law and order'.
But the key to democracy - which authoritarians generally reject - is education, information, disclosure, and evolution.
Those opposed to democracy love disinformation, propaganda, low levels of education, secrecy, darkness, corruption and a cult of authoritarian personality that the masses can blindly worship over the inevitable cliffs of right-wing destruction.
Those in America who prop up the vast right-wing disinformation-propaganda-industrial complex, its rigged-election-schemes, its Presidential dunces for a few extra dollars in their pocket and trashed climate should really consider taking a long look in the mirror while enjoying their super-yachts and ask themselves:
"Was it worth the extra cash to turn America into a 3rd-rate oligarchic state with collapsed infrastructure and modern feudalism ?"
"Was it really necessary to make America more Russia for a few cheesy bucks ?"
"Was it wise to flush America down a right-wing toilet for the joy of 0.1% welfare ?"
Today America is a Republican Frankenstein state with 0.1% corruption and narcissism as far as the eye can see thanks to a few greedy men.
We vastly outnumber them and must outvote them and the masses they dupe.
Voting matters.
16
Roger Cohen I love your writing. I don’t know what else to say. Please keep writing your knowledge, beliefs, wisdom, experience....the world needs it.
3
On the front page today, the fired head of the FBI is pictured with the caption, "James Comey plans to spend the next 13 months working to drive President Trump from power."
Why was he fired? The President felt he'd abused his power and was dangerous to his own boss, to Trump now as much as Hillary when Obama was his boss.
"Drive him from power" sounds like the President was right.
Now what sort of state has its national police arm "drive from power" the elected government?
Is that "freedom?"
Not to me.
Too many are now so caught up in their partisan frenzy they are saying really stupid things, and they are damaging our country's interests in hopes of "driving from power" the winner of the last election -- instead of winning the next one in 13 months time.
2
@Mark Thomason
I presume that when you refer to the saying of stupid things you include as the first example certain utterances that occurred during the campaign rally in Minnesota the other night. There certainly should be a frenzy ignited over such a performance. It is a national disgrace. A year is much too long to wait.
1
@Mark Thomason Mark - do you think threatening a foreign power's legal establishment to dig up dirt on a political rival is a valid thing to do? Is stirring up racial hatred and telling black Americans to to back to where they came from is acceptable? Cursing at a Boy Scout rally? How about a trillion dollar deficit? What would be YOUR tipping point? Mine has passed long ago. I'm with Comey and Ihlan Omar: the constitution gives us the protection of the impeachment power, and Mueller has told us it is the only way. 18 months might bring a disaster.
2
There is something very wrong with a so-called civilized world in the 21st century when the rise of nationalist, nativist dictators is blamed on liberals for allegedly failing to listen carefully to the phony grievances of the dictators.
Sorry, but the crimes are the fault of the dictators and their followers. Period.
4
My parrot could be my savior? Yes, it’s education, but we also have an elite or a wealthy whom have somehow forgotten we all put our pants on one leg at a time. And the poor can’t seem to find anything to aspire to as they detest their kind. My girlfriend said it best in a conversation about my great-grandfather, a noted surgeon, whom, when he died the people lined the streets, she said, “when medicine was a noble profession!” Is anything “in service to others” anymore?
2
"deranged occupant."
Yet, the "deplorables" stand shoulder to shoulder with the "deranged." But if only they would heed "education, education, education," the truth (as it is in Cohen) would make them free. Strange, that it is always the loathed "other" who needs reeducation. In China, it's the "other" Uighurs (a Uighur can avoid hate speech only by silence), in Cohen's UNopia the "other" would likewise know who they are. In UNopia there would be no war, but no less blood. Education would be mandatory, and it would be total.
I don't understand the "Kurds were unpardonably absent" at D-Day clause. Is it intended to mock Donald Trump or does Roger Cohen believe it true?
Impossible for me to imagine how the Kurds could possibly participate in an invasion of Nazi-occupied France from England, but they did bravely fight for the Allied cause, including in Iraq, Albania and Italy.
1
Beautifully and powerfully written, as usual. Thank you.
On a planet that is, in scientific terms, a closed system, and which is becoming drastically over-populated, we will not survive zero-sum thinking. And yet we have installed the ultimate zero-sum thinker in the White House. If we do not recognize and correct this we will not survive. The choice is stark.
4
Whence comes all of this contradictory divisiveness ?
While we seem to treasure our freedom of speech, we must do a better job "in the regulation of hate speech."
Yes, but how?
If Franklin, Madison and Jefferson were tuned in to the now, how would they react to social media and the viral explosion of prejudice and falsehoods amplified by computer algorithms 1000x and systemically fed to millions of readers constantly, all over the world?
And couple that with thousands of "think tanks" that design the truth according to their slant, call themselves something that they ain't and offer their products to us all via the same informational strategies and technology.
And anybody can have their own if you have the spare cash to hire a few writers, a powerful computer system, techs to keep it playing and a low-cost physical plant somewhere, anywhere.
And there are millions of multi-millionaires on both sides out there, dragging the same saw, day in and day out.
We even have major countries employing their extremely capable intelligence services running the same game.
And where does that leave the middle-class reader?
Yes, Democracy dies in darkness.
But if you stare into the sun, darkness is the result.
1
Thank you, Roger Cohen, for this important reminder of what is at stake!
I believe part of the current crisis of democracy in the western world can be understood better by the following astute observation of Hannah Arendt. She remarked on the dangers that arise when a democratic country has a large number of people who are indifferent and even ignorant of the way democracy works and why it is important:
"The success of totalitarian movements among the masses meant the end of two illusions [...]. The first was that the people in its majority had taken an active part in government and that each individual was in sympathy with one’s own or somebody else’s party. On the contrary, the movements showed that the politically neutral and indifferent masses could easily be the majority in a democratically ruled country, that therefore a democracy could function according to rules which are actively recognized by only a minority. The second democratic illusion exploded by the totalitarian movements was that these politically indifferent masses did not matter, that they were truly neutral and constituted no more than the inarticulate backward setting for the political life of the nation."
(from "The Origins of Totalitarianism")
Apparently then, the rapid changes brought about by social media competing with traditional, more reliable news sources have made it much easier for demagogues to tap into this potential.
6
Thank you Mr. Cohen for your inspiring article. I suspect more Americans are bridge builders also, indeed by being a sincere believer in America, what else could you be? Americans are not the savage bridge destroyers and narcissistic ghouls of Trump and his administration. Trump supporters fail a basic test of what it is to be an American: when problems and challenges arise, we look at all of the possible solutions and select the one that benefits the majority, and together we try to seek outcomes that are just, dignified, and generous to those involved. The use of the Peace Monument "Grief being consoled by History" photograph is outstanding and more poignant than ever. The National Park Service will have to redo the drainage around the monument however, as it will take time and enormous strength for History to help Grief through the awful events of the last 3 years.
3
Beautifully written and inspiring. In particular I would like to salute the protesters in Hong Kong. They are putting EVERYTHING on the line to fight for their freedom and rights in a truly David vs. Goliath match. They are showing freedom loving people everywhere how it’s done and the difficult things that we are all called upon to do from time to time to preserve it. For Americans also, that call could not be any louder right now.
12
The issue of inequality, which seems to drive much of the current fracturing, is only going to grow because of at least two trends.
One is automation and AI, which will eliminate many categories of wage work. High health care benefit costs on US employers means fewer human workers and more machines.
The second is climate change, which is likely to create hundreds of millions of climate refugees. The future is already here in Central America and Syria, where huge societal chaos stems from agricultural failure. The few wealthy and well connected have options for comfortable resettlement while the many poor are disparaged as criminals, job stealers and worse, even while they often work in conditions few natives will accept.
So far, we have reacted in both positive and negative ways.
Mexico was on the verge of collapse in 1994 when NAFTA created a North American auto supply chain that benefited all three countries and encouraged the growth of Asian and European assembly plants in the US. Job losses in the US would have been far worse without NAFTA and we could have had a failed nation of 127 million people on our long southern border.
And then we have the Trump brand of white nationalism, providing a smokescreen for looting the US Treasury and accelerating climate change and environmental degradation.
Trump has exposed just how ill prepared our society is for the future, which seems to be mobilizing younger voters who will live in it. That is our best hope.
18
"Education, education, education"
This is the key to a safer, freer future. Unless we begin to teach our children about the value of freedom and how essential is respect for others and for the environment which we all share, we have no chance of changing the nature of life on earth for those born after us.
9
What kind of fight does Roger have in mind? Voting I suspect. Well that ship sailed in 2016. Democracy can’t possibly work if the elite society is out of touch and wields more power than monarchy and bankers in the gilded age and Middle Ages.
4
30 years since the Berlin Wall fell. And the world is no longer free. Cold War nationalism brought the wall between East and West Germany into being in 1961. The lessons of the past must be learned again, as each generation is heedless of past history.
Hong Kong today represents liberal values against the Peoples Republic of China leaders in Beijing. "Mending Walls", Robert Frost's poem of 1914, is lesson enough, "Something there is that doesn't love a wall". And "Good fences make good neighbors" NOT.
Xenophobia and hatred of "the other" is afoot today in all first and second world countries on Earth. Dignity and decency have died and been buried globally. Extreme right and nationalistic countries with strongman leaders, like those whom President Trump admires, are wielding power today in a world run amok.
.
American patriotism, as you posit, Roger Cohen, requires truth, defense of the Constitution, respect for the rule of law; all that has disappeared under the disastrous presidency of Donald Trump. Mr. Trump has done his damnedest to build a wall on our southern border, when a bridge to America would be welcome instead.
The Berlin Wall which stood between East and West Berlin for 43 years until 1989, has been rebuilt here in America by our nationalistic rightwing, anti-immigrant president. A man unfit to be our leader. We Americans who have learned from our past and our history, understand about walls and bridges. Our president does not.
19
Thoughtful, passionate defense of freedom. Thank you Roger Cohen for offering these tidbits from thought leaders in Athens. The one I love the most is the one on the 2008 financial meltdown--"banks too big to fail, people to small to matter."
The world's priorities are all out of whack. Thanks to gaslighting in too many countries, up is down and wrong is right. People don't know what to think because competing sources tell them to believe things they do not see for themselves.
Disinformation and the surrealness it engenders is disorienting to the hilt. I know my mind always seeks explanations, motives, which aren't readily apparent.
I want to see the end of this movie--the assualts on the type of democracy I was raised to believe in are threatening. Better, yet, I seek a happy ending when people come to their senses, and ask, what (and why) are we so willing to throw away?
8
What a beautiful, insightful, soulful article. Thanks Roger.
I wish to share an experience spurred by “More Hungarians believe they have seen an unidentified flying object than believe they have met a refugee".
I escaped communist Romania in the spring of 1981 and do visit my homeland often. Not long ago, at a sidewalk cafe in Timisoara, a city close to Hungarian border, three Hungarian men in their thirties were sitting next to me and I started a conversation. In short order I was informed that all the information I consume is false, that CNN and the liberal media all tell lies but FOX News speaks the truth...and that Orban is the most truthful of all and best leader Europe has; plethora of conspiracy theories followed about Soros and liberal elites etc...
Now, aside from a historic animosity between Magyars and Romanians that could be, in part, responsible for their unflinching "illiberal" position, nothing they said made sense for no other reason due to the complete incoherence of their utterings.
This, compared to the Hungarian man I met in the lobby of a hotel in Baku who married a Greek lady and lives in Cyprus, with whom I shared disbelief of how an extreme ideology shaped the national mindset into a turbo nationalistic, jingoistic one...
Yes, the world is now confusion. But we, who believe that we know and upheld democracy with a heightened sense of humanism, we must continue to be actively involved to shape every day into a better one, for everybody's wellbeing.
13
Freedom, democracy in 21st century?
I don't believe freedom, democracy will endure over the 21st century. It's common today to speak of societies needing to toggle between the extremes of left and right, that we do have the alternative of avoiding left and right extremes, but I don't believe that anymore. We live in our world of vastly increasing population, environmental/ecological disaster, stress on resources, profound dependence on technology, vastly increased bureaucracy an either/or situation: Either swing dramatically to the right, for some type of breathing space, self-volition, which of course has any number of dangers, or we succumb to the left wing secular moralizing, politically correct crowd control method of fusing humanity into one people.
Notions of freedom, individuality, democracy have little force in a world where it's all about controlling, entertaining, influencing, directing, altering the viewpoint of masses of people. We know we live on one small planet, are billions of people, resources are stressed, that adventure, exploration, scientific, artistic invention/discovery is more difficult, rarified by the day leaving millions with dull jobs, predictable vacations, shallow choices, temptations, entertainments, so it's not freedom not to mention truth which takes effect but containment field of strong ideology of left or right, everybody on one page, some page while no doubt power would like nothing better than its own island to retreat to and stand by.
4
“20th century’s international order: freedom and openness; the rule of law; human rights; democracy and self-determination; security; and free-market opportunity.”
Mr Cohen, as often, wholly misses the point.
The late 20th Century has been dominated by an Economic Ideology – Neo Liberal Economics – that is designed to transfer wealth to the already rich; to destroy the Institutions of the State which provide the comfort of the Social Welfare State; to Unions of Workers which are Human Rights necessary for self-determination and Security. The neo-Liberal Ideology promotes Globalisation which sweeps away most of the protections that Mr. Cohen mutters like a litany. It destroys the ability of the State to protect its Citizens from the ravages of Laissez faire Capitalism and has led to the creation of a Corporate Welfare State. No wonder Citizens in many countries are trying to find some protection from this disastrous ideology which has loaded so many States with Debt to Bail out collapsed Banks. People like Mr Cohen disparage Populism because it challenges Neo Liberal Economics; populism speaks to the experience of those who seek protection in their Country and control over the forces that destabilise, weaken and impoverish them.
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20/80, problem of democracy
I believe the democracy is like a religion too. When and especially in US the money make democracy, so it is something wrong in principle.
Here some thoghts where is the really problem of Democracy.
There are tests that show the ability to recognize the problems and solve them depending on the intelligence. As expected, the tests showed that this is a linear function: the intelligent people can solve more and better.
But after such tests, the participants were asked how many percent, they think, they have solved correctly. The surprising answer was from all: by 80%.
This means that the less able - the majority - have unduly overestimated and underestimated the most capable.
Since this 80% majority in extreme cases is unable or unwilling to objectively assess the facts, the arguments will no longer be decisive, which is catastrophic for democracy. The populists can easily seduce this majority, as we see with the money.
This condition is a problem for the top 20% because they struggle with the arguments. So society lacks the best people.
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<< “Education, education, education.” >>
But education, even if completely supported by all the evidence, is fruitless if it challenges ones core beliefs and values.
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"Our struggles are not as new or as different as we imagine."
The wistful meanderings of Cohen's column suggests otherwise. Simply reciting a list of preferred abstract values gets you nowhere. Let's be honest and admit we are indeed in a state of confusion. Pretending to possess a false clarity is simply a form of denial -- even more denial, to be exact.
The old order collapseth, as the scriptures would have it. We clearly see things falling apart but not yet the pathway out of the wreckage.
The ethics of uncertainty would seem to require this: A willingness to fairly consider all new ideas, no matter how bizarre, but a reluctance to adopt any new path until thoroughly examined and tested; a great and generous tolerance for all opinions that are sincerely held; a moratorium on excessive blaming and scapegoating -- we have all, to varying degrees, dug our hole collectively.
If we cannot yet discern the ends to be achieved, that means we must be eternally vigilant in assuring the humanity of our chosen means. Strict truthfulness is to be observed; kindness, compassion and forgiveness uniformly practiced. Honest mistakes will be made, by everyone.
The fear attendant to a period of dissolution needs to be overcome; fearfulness distorts judgment and engenders conflict. Developing a sense of shared effort and a nurturing connection to the world around us counteracts fear, which thrives on a dominant mindset of isolation and its perception of ubiquitous outer threat.
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Very nice, Roger. Thank you. This sentence puzzled me just a little:
"It is not the prerogative of the globalized city dweller to ignore the concerns of all those living on ... the periphery."
I don't usually think of ignoring the concerns of others as an entitlement or prerogative. A nation is a social entity in which folks must act on behalf of all of its members. What is the best word for that?
Even good people sometimes make terrible mistakes. Some Americans are now in the middle of a terrible mistake. What are our duties or prerogatives here? The damage grows by the day, as does their mulish intransigence.
Their principal concerns include: "White people should be on top. My family should be sent back. How dare we tell their white president what he may or may not do?" That is more than just a violation of this particular tenet of national citizenship.
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A decent column, right on the main points, but could use some equivalent to footnotes to note the nuances needed on some of the "20th century" "values" Roger wants to see restored. We've learned that self-determination has to be over-ridden when nations do inhumane things like commit genocide or set massive amounts of fires in rain forests within their borders upon which we all depend. Democracy, the rule of law, and education can be shallow; and are too critical to settle for that. Security could be made the rationale for depressing the other rights Roger wants to see preserved. A free market has to be substantially re-defined, with parameters that both constrain it and, in some ways, make it better. Not sure why the only mention of myth is negative as, like a number of these qualities, it's a mixed bag. Glad better understanding of those who are victims of globalization are mentioned, but that's just a part of a larger conversation. Very glad that protection of the planet was mentioned, but this must become at least on a par with the biggies on this list, including freedom and democracy. It is long past the time that the environment should be seen as just another issue. There's no mention of the importance of other species, or the obligation to protect them, as even an otherwise worthy human orientation has to be broadened. Again, some very important points, particularly on fighting for democracy, but it tries to do too much in limited space.
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Democracy is "the best of imperfect systems". One of the weakest links being the first past the post concept and "one vote one day deciding direction of years to follow". Or a toxic mix of gerrymenadering and the Electoral College in case of the US. Which is why someone like Trump could become President and embolden him into trying to beat Congress into submission. Or going by the Parrot analogy, vet social media posts of visa applicants. How does one fight and for that matter what one fights for does not permit an easy or enduring answer.
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Chaos can somehow be relieved perhaps but that is
not likely.
The disunity threatening this nation continues.
Adaptive or it’s opposite maladaptive is about our fate aka destiny/death.
There does not seem to be enough consensus for
win-win/ flexible/adaptive/friendly/ ethical compromise.
Compromise is practicality, because perfection is
idealism which is unhappily impossible.
Compromise connotes badness/expediency/ abandonment of morality.
Yeah it does, I must acknowledge the dominant. popular and harmful slant of the c-word.
So, never mind the nuance I want to push/tout/lecture/honor/celebrate as normative.
The challenge to democracy in a digitized age is that for every plea for decency, such as this eloquent column, there dozens of monstrous memes and unspeakable acts of violence and bestiality just a click away. The internet is driven by politics and/or profit. Its most successful enablers strive daily to drive us towards the lowest common denominators of tribalism and philistinism.
We are above all, social beings, and the way in which we act and speak towards one another is first and foremost the end product of education, starting with a home, continuing in a good school, and surrounded by a caring and decent community -- offline and online. This is the environment in which tolerance and democracy are cultivated.
Who can be trusted to regulate what reaches us on our digital devices? Caring parents, teachers and community institutions, whose influence stays with us every day long after we have left home. That is what will tip the scale and assure basic freedoms for the next generation. What a challenge for humanity!
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Bravo Roger, individual freedom is the bed rock of a peaceful and prosperous society. We must have strong rule of law to preserve that freedom, and free people can take care of the rest.
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Bridges, not walls. That's something to stand for.
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"The end point of nationalism, as François Mitterrand observed, is war."
The fight against climate change is our global opportunity for unity.
It's right before our eyes.
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There have been periods of human civilized history that have been enlightened, somewhat egalitarian, and promoting of liberty, but in most eras and places that trend has been swamped by tribalism, authoritarianism, xenophobia, oligarchy, and all too often, genocide.
It just seems as if the natural tendencies of human beings tend more towards the second group of potentialities than the first, and that keeping the first alive and ongoing takes the famed eternal vigilance and maximum effort. When people relax their attention or their effort, the second group comes sneaking, or even roaring, back.
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Why did it take the disaster of Trump to enable people like Cohen to all of a sudden see all those "invisible" people they had previously ignored, literally for decades, when they were hiding in plain sight the entire time?
How much damage to the cherished values he enumerates would have been avoided if the "elites" had not been so "complacent" and "contemptuous", again, literally for decades?
Could the elites possibly have been more irresponsible and reckless in squandering the historic opportunity provided by the fall of the Berlin Wall?
33
Easy, the invention of container shipping lowered the cost of transporting stuff from China. No need anymore to overpay American labor, burdened by expensive regulations. Gotta maximize shareholder value.
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@TB
You combine a very large group of people in your "elites." There have been "elites" who have been vitally concerned about the "invisible" people--some of them white, some not--and there have been "elites" who have no other interest than the prosperity of themselves and their own families.
Finally, "elites" as the target of your comment is so broad and generic as to be meaningless. You have only identified a bogeyman.
7
@Eben
One of the finest summaries of the last century I have ever read....
3
Democracy sounds like the most noble form of governance, but its outcomes are sometimes anything but.
In recent American history, our democracy made George W. Bush a two term president, first despite him losing the popular vote, then despite him having launched the Iraq War, after manipulating public sentiment.
The ignoble and undemocratic Donald Trump was made president despite him having both lost the popular vote and having voiced an authoritarian mentality as a candidate.
Last year’s midterms did usher in a Democratic House - but also left the Senate in Republican control, thereby precluding any plausible path to having Trump successfully impeached.
No form of issuing power is going to be perfect because people are imperfect. Democracy can be great, but can also undo the ideals it theoretically represents.
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@NM You confuse democracy with the electoral college, and Republican cheating (voter suppression, gerrymandering, abuse of the fillibuster, the Haskert principle). They are what undo the ideals of democracy.
5
Absolutely terrific. I am saving this one to read again and again
127
Perhaps the expansion of democratic values, freedom, and human rights during the latter half of the 20th century was only possible as a reaction to the specter of totalitarian nationalism that preceded it. Perhaps we will have to endure another such period, the outlines of which are now all too clear right here in America, before people fully understand what is at stake and recommit to those values, with actions as well as words.
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@Richard
I think you may be right but I am praying that you are not because there is no guarantee that we will emerge from another encounter with totalitarian nationalism in one piece given that we are already facing a climate change disaster.
6
The world is people with potential to value one another or revile one another. The choice should be easy, but the worst parts of our nature are too easily revealed when leaders call them out. That's why choosing our leaders remains one of our most solemn duties. Defending democracy, liberty, and equality remains the hard choice of people everywhere, but especially in the United States of America. 2020 is our appointment with destiny. Trump must go.
109
". . . an obligation exists to defend the values that provided the framework of the 20th century’s international order: freedom and openness; the rule of law; human rights; democracy and self-determination; security; and free-market opportunity."
No words have expressed better what has haunted my soul these last three years.
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Re “The Free World at 30“
The time is nigh where we stand or fall on our values. If this encourages others, whether in government service, the military, or in civilian life to rise to the occasion, then it will have been worth the effort to make the appeal.
Our former presidents might consider chiming in with a joint statement. The penalty for failure to act now will be victories for Putin and Erdogan and a slide into an unnecessary war with Iran.
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"Today, American patriotism, as I understand it, requires this: the defense of the Constitution, the rule of law, truth, freedom and the planet itself against the ravages issuing from the White House and its increasingly deranged occupant."
Beautifully stated.
We will count up the American Patriots on 11/3/2020. I hope that patriotism wins and we can start the post-Trump reconstruction of our democracy,
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@LT
Patriotism is a tricky word used to describe an emotion that can mean completely different things to different people. It is a favorite word of the right and in many senses is the brother of 'nationalism' because it has been used so often as a spur to generate a feeling that one's country is important above all. Notice that Mr. Cohen does not use it once in this piece.
9
@LT
Patriotism is a tricky word used to describe an emotion that can mean completely different things to different people. It is a favorite word of the right and in many senses is the brother of 'nationalism' because it has been used so often as a spur to generate a feeling that one's country is important above all. Notice that Mr. Cohen only uses it once in this piece.
1
@LT
It cannot wait til then. Our democracy is being destroyed daily.
Notice the picture. People out on the street, insisting their voices be heard. Not hiding behind their phones.
4