No, I'm not referring to Voldemort of the Harry Potter movies. I'm referring to Sarah Palin, who I've resisted mentioning, because she has been serving as the perfect freak show for our conflict-obsessed media, which uses her freakness simply to sell faux "news." Or maybe not. Depending on who you listen to, she might actually be the future face of the Republican Party, despite the fact that she has never uttered an idea useful for solving a real-world political problem. Or maybe, as Andrew Sullivan writes, she is not a political phenomenon at all, but a religious leader. If you doubt Sullivan's claim, check Palin's recent quote, which Sullivan quotes at length in this post from The Daily Dish. Sullivan's characterization of Palin doesn't surprise me, though; I've come to see most religions as special cases of politics. Both are elaborate systems that use vague and largely unsubstantiated fables and threats to enable small elite groups to coordinate and control much larger groups of people, for better and worse.