“When I was a kid, I went door to door in my neighborhood asking for do...” — Richard Cohen Quote

When I was a kid, I went door to door in my neighborhood asking for donations to the Jewish National Fund, best known then for its Israel forestation program. At the age of 11 or so, I imagined myself a regular Johnny Appleseed, responsible for vast forests.

Our country undergoes periodic episodes of extreme intolerance and fear of foreigners, refugees in particular. Not only were people of Japanese descent placed in internment camps during World War II, but so were some Italians and Germans.

Iran may or may not be the existential threat to Israel that Netanyahu insists it is. But a lessening of U.S. support for Israel certainly would be. With an indifferent America, Israel would become a lonely, frightening place.

I reveled in political science and history of all kinds, and I felt for a long time that I had discovered all the secrets of life in psychology, although its Freudian variety left me cold. The id never made much sense to me.

The United States could transform its property tax system into a progressive tax on net worth without asking permission to the rest of the world.

A Western upbringing tends to stress questioning authority, which is always asking why, why, why.

I would have been completely brainwashed by this lopsided and racist view of the world if it weren't for my father. He was a deep thinker and an irrepressible problem solver. He was a Black Socrates, asking why and then spoiling ready-made replies.

When I go to my parents' house, I know what to expect. Local kids chase me for autographs. I don't mind it. It makes my day. It makes me realise where I've come from, to go there and see kids coming up to me asking for autographs.