Solidarity is a ministry of the strong gods; the “we” is their gift. But the members of our leadership class cannot recognize the crisis of solidarity that threatens the West and fuels populism. They compulsively refocus attention on the problems the postwar consensus was constructed to fight: fascism, racism, conformism, and the authoritarian personality. Mention the erosion of the middle class, and someone is sure to observe that concerns about renewing solidarity amount to dangerous nostalgia. “The 1950s was an era of white male solidarity,” she’ll say. Someone else will object, “How can
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