Humans are not very logical creatures. The beliefs that we hold usually don’t come from spreadsheets and peer-reviewed science journals, but from the stories we tell each other. This has always been the case. . . .

1. Immigrants have always been feared and scapegoated in America. As Benjamin Franklin wrote in 1753, of German immigrants . . .

“There ain’t no asylum here/King Solomon he never lived ‘round here.” – The Clash, “Straight to Hell”

As Russian tanks roll across Ukraine, and Putin raises the threat of nuclear war, I wonder (dare I?) if the rise of authoritarianism, Putinism, and Trumpism in the United States is finally reaching its logical limit. . . .

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. . . .