Our task in the U.S. is to create a populism that does not appeal to the racism, sexism, and national chauvinism that have disfigured right-wing and fascistic forms of populism. To do this, we need to address the crisis in meaning: the forces that cause people to feel alienated, devoid of meaning and purpose, lacking in community, and unrecognized. Listening to some of the in-depth interviews that were done with people who voted for David Duke in 1991, we hear over and over again variations of one theme: “I am here, I count, and David Duke [Donald Trump] made me feel that he was the only one who noticed that.” Underlying this assertion is the pain of people who feel that their cares and concerns are receiving little validation or attention.
At www.tikkun.org
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