Democrats don’t get their own ideology

Democrats don’t get their own ideology

No. No. No. I will not let Richard Cohen get away with this one.

On Aug. 8, he wrote a column about Jewish success, in Europe, in America and in Israel. He recounted the success Jewish persons achieved in Hungary during the 19th Century, after their emancipation, when the Austro-Hungarian Empire allowed them to legally own land. They ended up owning one-fifth of the large estates. In Germany, at 1 percent of the population, they became 31 percent of the richest families. In the U.S., Israelis earned 7,652 patents, between 1980 and 2000.

Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate for president, attributes such success to cultural differences from other groups. And, Democrat Cohen wrote this column explaining why he agreed with him. But, that is not what he wrote just seven days earlier.

Then, Cohen castigated the “right wing” (Republicans) who believe that success depends upon individual initiative, intelligence and hard work (cultural attributes), quoting fellow Democrat Barack Obama, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”

Cohen went on, “Of course, the president has nothing but truth and history on his side.” So, are we to believe that the Jews in Hungary, Germany, the U.S. and Israel did not deserve their success, just as Americans do not deserve their success?

The Democrats answer is ‘no.’ Cohen has just shown us another reason why most Democrats do not understand their own ideology.

George Kocan

Warrenville