Supposedly, 2016 is the Year of the Angry Voter. To hear the pundits tell it, Americans are just furious. Well, call me smug or out of touch, but I think it’s mainly a fad. TV talking heads say they’re supposed to be bitter, so suggestible people persuade themselves that they are. In interviews, people say […]

True, Hillary Clinton is the heavy favorite. She leads Donald Trump by an average of 8 points in national polls, and she’s well ahead in key states Trump needs to win, like Pennsylvania and Michigan. The Republican Party remains fractured, and some GOPers are already dumping Trump and jumping ship. But these developments obscure some […]

There are at least three big myths about the economy in this year’s political campaign. In the 1992 campaign, strategist James Carville highlighted the key issue for the Clinton staff, saying, “It’s the economy, stupid.” Though there’s a lot of talk, positive and negative, about the recovery from the recession, the economy is not the […]

People love pageantry. Parades, graduations, the Texas Two-Step: There’s something about us that yearns to participate in, or watch others participate in, formal ceremonies that involve choreographed movements and speech. And if weddings aren’t the most pre-planned, pageant-tastic events in the human repertoire, I’ll eat my cummerbund. I haven’t been married yet (this is what […]