Economic Loss Equates with Cultural Diversity Loss: Merkel Pins the Tail on a Muslim

German Chancellor Merkel mourned the loss of "German-ness" this week as the advance of economic hardship in Europe puts strains on tolerance for ethnic and cultural diversity in Germany. The best way to make a man retentive and conservative is to threaten to take away his property, thereby creating a shift towards intolerance of ethnic or cultural differences. The problem is not as elementary as Merkel wishes it to be when she equates economic hardship with the threat of German "Christian "values against a perceived onslaught of Muslim infiltration. We've watched this movie before - as recently as 1930s Germany, when economic hardship caused leaders to pin the tail on another ethnic group. But black and white solutions, like the one Merkel proposes, are dangerous. The stability of a nation depends on its level of ethnic and cultural tolerance. Once the pendulum swings too far in one direction or the other, the system starts to tilt away from any hope of a solid economic or social foundation.