She doesn’t look like a demagogue, with her neatly cropped blond hair and gentle facial features. But Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren arguably gave the most demagogic speech at this year’s Democratic National Convention.
6:34 PM 01/12/2012
So much for “hope and change”; “Yes, we can”; and the grammatically questionable “change we can believe in.” After three years of Barack Obama, the verdict is in. The official slogan for the era of Obama should be: “Dude, where’s my welfare?”
9:34 AM 12/14/2011
“Dude, where’s my job?” is one of the slogans one finds scrawled on signs held by disheveled young protesters at Occupy events.
10:26 AM 11/09/2011
I just found out that I'm in the top 1 percent of income earners. Wow --- I never knew I was so rich! Is that cool news or what?
10:31 AM 10/25/2011
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett, troubled that he ostensibly pays a lower tax rate than his secretary, champions higher taxes on the mega-rich. But he just as easily could have championed the other logical course of action: lower taxes on the likes of his secretary. So why his eagerness for tax hikes on the rich?
3:46 PM 09/16/2011
Be an atheist or agnostic at your own peril.
11:46 AM 05/20/2011
When you read an opinion article, how can you be sure that the author of the article isn't being paid by an undisclosed party with a vested interest in the topic? Same with other news reports that you read or watch: how can you be sure that a public relations firm didn't pay the media outlet to run it?
10:52 AM 04/20/2011
The single most prominent leitmotiv among demagogues the world over is demonization of the rich. Whether it’s railing against fat-cat bankers or bemoaning the uneven distribution of wealth, demagogues whip up hatred and passions by zeroing in on one of the most powerful and destructive of human emotions: envy.
12:00 AM 04/13/2010
Paul Kennedy, author of “The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers,” was wrong. Nations don’t fall because of imperial overstretch. They fall because of entitlement overstretch. It’s not what happens outside their borders, but what they do to themselves inside their borders.
12:00 AM 03/05/2010
In the Olympic medal count, Sweden does OK for a country of its small size. But in the days of old, it consistently ranked at the top. What accounts for the downtrend? A big factor must be taxes.
12:00 AM 02/10/2010
So President Obama wants to slap a guilt tax on banks. Well if he’s going to do that, then slap one on Barney Frank. And Chris Dodd. And ACORN. And a whole laundry list of others responsible for causing the financial meltdown.
12:06 AM 01/26/2010
It’s time for Republicans to push for health care reform with the same amount of fire and enthusiasm that Democrats have pushed for health care deform.
12:12 AM 01/13/2010
The president repeatedly assures us that if we like our current health insurance plan, we can keep it. That’s like telling New Orleans residents on the eve of Katrina that if you like your house, you can keep it.
