Deep economic crises are fodder for demagogues who channel economic fear into a politics of resentment against "them." In the 1930s it was foreign traders (mainly Europeans), immigrants, and Jews. Now it's foreign traders (mainly the Chinese), immigrants, and Muslims. Why do you suppose a half-dozen states are now considering (or have recently enacted) measures to end multicultural studies, bar children of undocumented workers from public schools, and allowed racial profiling? Every survey shows fewer undocumented workers in America now than three years ago. How do you account for the outbreak of Islamophobia -- fully nine years after 9/11? Why the clamor over a Muslim center near Ground Zero? Why do 18 percent of Americans believe President Obama wasn't born in the United States, that he is a secret Muslim? How do you explain the surging animosity toward foreign trade, particularly toward China? Candidates for midterm elections are running tens of millions of dollars of ads attacking their opponents for being too sympathetic to China.
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