fear

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John Adams, in his 1776 Thoughts on Government,

Fear is the foundation of most governments; but it is so sordid and brutal a passion, and renders men in whose breasts it predominates so stupid and miserable, that Americans will not be likely to approve of any political institution which is founded on it.

Truly, the American Founding was predicated on exactly the opposite mindset. The Constitution is grounded in the premise that there are other values and priorities more important than mere Safety.

Even though the "Founding Fathers" knew that doing so would help murderers and other dangerous and vile criminals evade capture, the Framers,

1. banned the Government from searching homes without probable cause,
2. prohibited compelled self-incrimination, double jeopardy and convictions based on hearsay, and
3. outlawed cruel and unusual punishment.

That's because certain values -- privacy, due process, limiting the potential for abuse of government power -- were more important than mere survival and safety.

A central tenet of the Constitution is that we insist upon privacy, liberty and restraints on government power even when doing so means we live with less safety and a heightened risk of danger and death.

And if the Constitution is not a good enough basis for you, go to the Bible. “God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Tim. 1:6,7).

There you have it--from both the bedrock of this country and the principles of Christian faith.
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Fear

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"...the only thing we have to fear is fear itself -- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts." FDR

Ever since 9/11, this has become a nation of fear. GW famously told us to go shopping. He did not tell us that we would prevail. He did not tell us that as a nation, we could get through this. He did not tell us that nothing anyone could do to this country would change who we are. We should have listened.

For the rest of his 2 terms, GW & his minions worked very hard to instill fear in us. It seems that they have largely succeeded. We should have listened. They also changed who we are as a country--declaring war against a nation that had not attacked us, extraordinary rendition, torture, diminution of civil rights, unauthorized wire tapping, allowing a great national treasure of a city to drown, politicization of the justice department, etc, etc, etc. We should have listened.

Now, Cheney is happily going about spewing more "be afraid, be very afraid." And Americans are listening. Many are so fearful that they refuse to have terrorists incarcerated anywhere in this country -- "nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror..."

What have we become? Cowardly, spineless, fearful piles of jello?

Have Americans forgotten that during WWII, this country was home to thousands of Nazi POWs. Citizens were not afraid then. My home town had a POW Camp where only the "worst of the worst" were housed--the hard core Nazi officers and non-coms. No area citizen was killed nor even harmed by any POW. Very few even escaped. Most were recaptured.

We have to regain our self-assurance as a country. It is a matter of facing our fears and making the decision to abandon them. "No" you say? Then, what next? Carry your "what-if?" game clear out to the end. Answer the "what if?" What if a terrorist gets loose in this country? Aren't our law-enforcement personnel capable of re-capturing him? Then back to lock-up. What if? Not so fearful.

Don't say, "No." It is truly just a matter of making the decision. Quit asking "what if?" Decide that we can manage in any situation. We will not be afraid. We will not live with fear.

Make the decision. Quit being afraid. This is the United States of America. We will not live in fear. We can do anything.
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Update: here is what an interrogator on the ground in Iraq has to say about Cheney's talking and talking and talking.

Hope vs Fear

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The entire history of American political debate can, in one sense, be described as the argument between the hope of progressives and liberals for a better future vs. the fear of conservatives who want to protect the way things are now.

• Fear has been a staple of every generation of conservatives .... Fear of the democratic mob. Fear of the freed slave. Fear of the liberated woman destroying the traditional family. Fear of freethinkers destroying religion. Fear of communism. Fear of gays and lesbians. Fear of hippies, "free love," and the drug culture. Fear of the immigrant. In a bizarre twist, Social Darwinism gave us fear of the weak, and in the modern version of Social Darwinism, Reagan gave us fear of the poor on welfare. Post-9/11, you can now add in the ever-potent fear of terrorism. (from The Progressive Revolution by Mike Lux)
  

George Gerbner, who headed the Annenberg School for Communication for 25 years, noted:

• "Fearful people are more dependent, more easily manipulated and controlled, more susceptible to deceptively simple, strong, tough measures and hard-line postures. … They may accept and even welcome repression if it promises to relieve their insecurities."

How frightened and insecure do you have to be to deliberately choose the lowest mediocrity for your government?

It never ceases to amaze me that anyone would vote to vest the entire government in the hands of a group of people who don't believe in government and who do their best to see to it that government does not function well. And, that, my gentle snowflakes, means the conservative Republicans.

Remember, the great God of the conservative Republicans, Reagan said, "Government is not the solution to the problem, government is the problem." Then Bush 43 came along and seemingly set out to prove just how badly government could function--Katrina for possibly the single most outstanding example.

So, I ask you, what drives people to embrace stupidity, aggression, recklessness, destruction and contemptuousness as national policy, especially when they have other choices?

Democrats/Liberals/Progressives know what wonderful, important contributions American can make when properly motivated. We are ready for hope - not fear - to be out guiding principle. For "What if?" - not "What happened?" - to be our next national question.

We know we all live here. We know we need a government that functions as well as possible with the least possible intrusions into any aspect of our lives. But, maybe most importantly, we know that we do need a government.

A Cherokee Fable

• One evening, a grandfather was teaching his young grandson about the internal battle that each person faces.
• " There are two wolves struggling inside each of us," the old man said.
• "'One wolf is vengefulness, anger, resentment, self-pity, fear.
  
• The other wolf is compassion, faithfulness, hope, truth, love."
• The grandson sat, thinking, then asked: "Which wolf wins, Grandfather?"
• His grandfather replied, "'The one you feed. "

I think I may have let a scrap or two too many fall to the wrong wolf.
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