Maybe it’s no coincidence that Halloween and Election Day come so closely on the heels of one another.

After all, both days involve people coming to your door asking for something, often wearing some kind of disguise to obscure the person they truly are.

And, just as some children dress up as superheroes and others as scary monsters, politicians can present themselves in ways that appeal either to our better natures or our basest fears.

In much the same way a child may dress up as a vampire, zombie or ghost, threatening to exact some ghoulish punishment on us for not handing over the candy, politicians will attempt to scare us with all kinds of threats, both real and imagined—of terrorists lurking around every dark corner; of illegal aliens coming to steal your job; of intrusive government taking away your rights, spying on you, taxing your last dollar and leaving you penniless and saddled with a massive debt for generations to come.

But they reserve their biggest...