Fear

The encouraging lesson from Obama's huge win in North Carolina and near-win in Indiana is that perhaps the fear card no longer trumps all others. The Bush presidencies were fueled by what Jonathan Alter of Newsweek recently called, "underinformed voters," explicitly voting against their own economic interests, often for reasons...

Sure, like a monster would, Hillary tries to scare people, lots of people - but that's where the similarity ends. Monsters don't merely conjure and promote fear - they actually try to kill you. They growl, and grab and claw and devour. In movies, monsters pick their victims off one...

It's 3 a.m. and your child is sleeping. A detainee groans at Guantanamo. On the campaign trail, the Clinton PR team is guzzling coffee, dreaming up new ways to milk votes out of fear.

Why, I wondered, is she going after these votes in the primary? Surely she doesn't imagine...

On September 7, 2004 Dick Cheney summed up the Republican campaign against John Kerry, warning a crowd in Des Moines, "It is absolutely essential that...on November 2 we make the right choice because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll be hit again and we'll...

Americans are internationally famous for being fearful -- afraid of terrorists, afraid of communists, afraid of each other. When Europeans have terrorist attacks they apprehend the perpetrators and go about their business -- they don't flip out and give up their freedoms. Americans seem willing to chuck the Bill...

"Well, now the fun part starts," Hillary Clinton has now said. "We're into the last month, and we're going to start drawing a contrast, because I want every Iowan to have accurate information when they make their decisions."

Hillary's definition of "fun" strikes me as going to the...

It's interesting to be in the work of fostering citizen courage in this time when a growing national theme seems to be: Be afraid. Be very afraid.

"Interesting" is, of course, sarcasm. What I'm really feeling is anger.

Are you listening to our "leaders"? To people seeking higher office? To...

Examining the constant urge from right-wingers to brand everything opposing them as an act of cowardice.

To see more of August J. Pollak's cartoon "Some Guy With a Website," check out the archive.

The poster exploits the howling demons of our culture. It's my morning smack-in-the-eye, bright gold, four feet high, dominated by a female in stark silhouette striding resolutely into the wreckage of post-apocalypse Las Vegas. She wields a wicked-looking blaster in each hand.

The ad, for the movie Resident Evil: Extinction,...