This course examines the multiple roles that language plays in politics. Among the topics it covers: Orwellian doublespeak, Black English, hate speech, truthfulness in politics, gender neutral pronouns, partisan word labs, the linguistic construction of the "war on terror," folk tales as a form of political resistance, and familial metaphors in American political discourse. More abstractly, this course is organized around three broad themes: the place of language in political action, language as a political resource and the language of politics in America.