An Ill Wind In Dallas

A cold and rather nasty wind is blowing through the Republican Party. That was probably the main lesson to be drawn from its August convention in Dallas, Texas. It is, however, not a new wind. In fact, as it wafts across the country it carries the unmistakable odor of some of the oldest and worst tendencies in U.S. political history, like McCarthyism, nativism, and robber baron social Darwinism.