The Politics of Fear [View All]

They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Benjamin Franklin

Today I was listening to the Neil Boortz show while driving around Atlanta. He has completely lost all reason he might once have had over this latest beheading in Iraq. He presented hypothetic scenario after hypothetical scenario intent on scaring the hell out of his listeners. "What if terrorists here in the states start kidnapping women and children and threatening to chop off their heads unless the American public elects John Kerry?" Was one such hysterical scenario. "What if you are at work one Thursday and learn that New York has been hit with a nuclear bomb by a terrorist group?" Was another. He was completely out of his mind with fear and hatred. He even turned on his own beloved Libertarian Party for not supporting invading Iran if they do not comply with our demands.

Fear is nothing new to American politics. We have always had an evil Boogey Man who enters the political discourse. Whether it is the black male, communists, immigrants, or terrorists, America has a long history of using fear to manipulate the masses. At the end of the Cold War, many people breathed a sigh of relief. But that pause was brief. How can politicians get the people to do what they want us to do without a Jason or a Freddy to fear? Fear is a drug in America - we are addicted to it.

After 9/11, Bush seemed destined for a second term. America was united in its hatred and fear. I remember the signs popping up all throughout my small suburban town: "We Support the President," "God Bless America," "American Owned and Operated," and the most hateful one at a nail salon nextdoor to my Korean hairdresser: "All Our Technicians are American Born!"

Like any other drug, people soon build a tolerance to fear. We adjust. We modify our lives and we keep going. Eventually, after 9/11, we got on with our lives. We resumed travel and shopping. We began to notice domestic problems that had been out of our focus. We adjusted to this drug and we were no longer in a stupor. Periodically the government has upped the dosage to get us back in control - but each hit was short lived. Now it seems some in the media are pulling out all stops - the hell with small dosages of fear, what we need is an intravenous feed. Keep the fear coming until the people can no longer stand. This is what I heard on the Boortz show today, and it sickened me.

I began this post with a quote from Benjamin Franklin. I immediately thought of it as I listened to Boortz declare that America is facing a barbaric horde - a barbaric horde called Islam. He warned that America is facing the same fate as the Roman Empire. I have to concur that America as we know it is in danger, but the danger we face from without does not compare to the danger we face from within. We are at a crossroads. Do we allow fear to rule us so that we would be willing to give up our freedoms and rights guaranteed by our Constitution? Is an America without these liberties an America at all? America has enemies, and terrorism is a threat to the entire world. But the greatest threat in America today are those who for a moment's comfort will surrender their liberties. IF allow fear to be our sovereign, this government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall perish from this earth.