Kevin Williamson:
In our time of imbecilic populism, there is an imperative for politicians and activists to pretend that We the People can never be wrong. And that ends up being a problem when We the People—who are, in the main, fools and worse—aren’t with you on an issue. And so you have to invent some new categories—the Real Americans™ who are always on your side—or else pretend that We the People have been misled, that (the Republican version) they are victims of media bias or (the Democratic version) that they have been bamboozled by people who exploit their quaint religious beliefs in order to blind them to their own interests. We the People and the world’s political forces are like the czar and his ministers: The former must always be good and wise and holy, while the latter is responsible for anything that goes wrong. The czar has absolute power and is responsible for absolutely nothing. All of this nonsense is easier to keep straight in your head if you believe that the other side is simply evil.