About the Author: Ira Chernus
Ira Chernus received his Ph.D. in the History of Judaism from Temple University. He is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he has taught for over 30 years. He is a frequent contributor to Common Dreams and Tomdispatch, but you can read more of his writing on Israel, Palestine, and American Jews on his blog.
If the fear of a broken society is, at its deepest level, the fear of a broken foundation myth—a loss of the sense of secure identity that once came from simply living on American soil—then no party is to blame for it and no party can fix it.