A word always has at least some history behind it, rather than a single, simple one-to-one meaning. That history can be long and dynamic, and it continues to evolve, just like language itself. . . .

A lot of people probably view poll taxes as racist ancient history that has nothing to do with today. But history is never dead and buried in this country. . . .

Next year will mark the 60th anniversary of a seminal work in American political analysis, “The Paranoid Style in American Politics,” by Richard Hofstadter. . . . Sadly, his formulation has turned out to be more relevant in 2022 than he could have ever predicted. . . .