America is a nation built on hope. From the earliest settlers to our most recent immigrants, people have come to this land in hope of a brighter future and a better life for their families. They come to share in the freedom that native-born citizens take for granted. They come to have a steady job, of any kind, so they can feed their children. They come so that they can worship their religion without being arrested or beaten or killed. They come so they can learn and speak out and contribute to a society that gives them something back in return. They come to live in a democracy where the rule of law trumps ideology or prejudice or graft. They come to this land of ours because of the hope we offer to the oppressed people of the world, the hope of happiness and health and honor and freedom. The foundation of that hope rests in our democratic form of government and the individual protections afforded citizens by the United States Constitution.
Hope is an emotion that fosters progress, and it is evident that American hope has served us well as we rose from a small, agrarian country to become the most powerful in the world. Powerful not just militarily, but also economically, technologically, and culturally. Throughout our history, we have had ample opportunities to let that spirit of hope die. But instead of falling victim to melancholy, America rallied back after the Civil War and the Great Depression and Pearl Harbor. We rebuilt our nation time and again and became stronger from our suffering, rising from the ashes of despair because throughout it all, we held on to our national spirit of hope. We were able to hold on to our hope because we had leaders who offered us hope in their words and in their actions. Their words of hope became reality as we worked together to achieve a common goal. We vanquished the enemies of freedom and democracy and carried forth a message of hope for all people. Like a self-fulfilling prophecy, those words and deeds transformed the 20th century into the greatest time of prosperity in the history of mankind.
Hope is a powerful motivator. With hope, a person can overcome many obstacles. With hope, a person can foresee a better future. With hope, individual growth benefits the entirety of society.
Sadly, as we begin the 21st century, the predominant emotion in America is no longer hope. It is fear. And fear is a powerful motivator too. Fear makes us give up our freedom. Fear makes us forget our values. Fear makes us lose trust in each other. And fear builds on itself.
In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks against America, many Americans were surprised to learn about a new enemy who not only hated us, but wanted to destroy our way of life, and had the means to do so, at least incrementally. After years of continued prosperity and peace, combined with a growing attitude of entitlement and cultural isolation, average Americans woke up on that day with a new realization of the world outside our own borders. America was attacked at home, and the terror we had heretofore only read about in the papers was in our backyard. Fear reared its ugly head. But even as ordinary citizens tried to put life back together, to put the fear behind them and rise from the destruction and reclaim a sense of normalcy, the Bush Administration, guided by their neo-con warmongers and evangelical Christian base, found in the attacks an opportunity to pursue their agenda of advancing their prophecies and ideology and exploited our fear.
This is not to say that we do not have a legitimate security concern to pay attention to and deal with. Indeed, America and the entire western world are now firmly locked again in the centuries old conflict between religious cultures and ideology. And in a very real sense, the future of our freedom and democracy hang in the balance as this open-ended conflict rages on. Still, in our atmosphere of non-stop fear, we have lost focus of the real battle being waged, getting sidetracked as the administration seeks to find lateral enemies, expanding the conflict and increasing their fear-based reality. But America has faced fierce enemies before, and our success over them did not come from an endless fear of destruction, but instead from our enduring fount of hope.
Religion and it’s promise of a glorious afterlife is supposed to alleviate the fear of dying, and theoretically, the evangelical base of the administration’s supporters look forward to the apocalypse so that they can be with their god. Actions, though, speak louder than words, and many of the most vocal among the evangelicals make every attempt to avoid the possibility of death for their cause. They would rather someone else did the dying for them as they continue to spread their message of doom. Religion uses fear to increase membership, increase their political power, and create a strict Christian society. And though they don’t submit to violent terrorist acts to advance their goals, they have no problem rolling back the individual protections guaranteed in the Constitution if it helps their cause. Because even though the Christian religion is based on the concept of individual choice (i.e. you can choose whether or not to walk a righteous path), the practice of its followers is to condemn those who choose a path other than Christianity. Our president claims to be an evangelical Christian himself, and the use of fear is familiar to his line of reasoning.
Government is also exploiting our legitimate fear of enemy attacks into an excuse to abridge freedom and bypass the rule of law. If the enemy seeks to destroy our freedom and democracy, and this administration, under the guise of protecting us from our fears, takes away our freedoms and ignores the rule of law, then the enemy wins a small victory without even having to fight. Indeed, the actions of this administration have given the enemy a victory without even realizing it. As it now stands, we have an actual enemy who wants to kill us, and an enemy in our own government that wants to limit our hard fought freedoms in the name of security.
The politics of fear have not made us any safer in our fight against radical terrorism. The politics of fear have not increased the prosperity of this country. If anything, the increased attention paid to fear has caused this country to regress and divide. Fear did not defeat the Nazi’s or the Japanese. Fear did not fix a shattered economy. Fear did not end slavery.
Under the blanket of perpetual fear, we don’t see what we are losing and what is being taken from us. We only hear the voice of the wise leaders telling us not to worry because they are doing what needs to be done to protect us. But they aren’t really doing anything to make us safer from attacks, especially from rogue nuclear attacks. They aren’t protecting the economic well being of this generation or the next. They aren’t protecting our environment or making any efforts to sustain resources for future Americans. They aren’t protecting us from murderers or child molesters or illegal immigration. The only protection this government is offering is to their corporate donors, their political hacks, and their terrorist allies in the world. As much as I recognize and fear the terrorists who would destroy America, I also fear that the politicians of today will do nothing to make things whole again. But I refuse to be paralyzed by those fears. And I operate from a place of hope. Hope that Americans will wake up and discard the politics of fear. Hope that America will face our troubles head on, with honesty and a rational plan to conquer them.
America can’t discard freedom to defeat our fear. America must defeat fear with hope.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 21st, 2005 at 8:23 am and is filed under Bush, Common Sense, Democracy, Government, national security, Politics, Terrorism.
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December 21st, 2005 at 3:15 pm
I like reading ideas and thoughts…but ur post is kinda long..LOL…Nice blog here..Merry Christmas, Do leave me a comment..Best wishes, xian
ps: ur blog takes some time to load although Im using 512kps broadband.. ciao!!!
December 21st, 2005 at 5:57 pm
This is one righteous post Ken. Hope should trump fear, but it’s the fear these mongers in the whitehouse keep peddling. Certainly, they are lazy. That’s the easy way to stir action out of people. Hope just makes folks feel good. Fear gets us stocking up on rolls of duct tape and a run on the local big box store for any kind of supply that might aid in the nuclear winter.
Hope takes creativity.
Fear takes meanness to propogate
Hope takes optimism
Fear takes pessimism
Hope brings smiles to faces
Fear gives shock and awe
Hope brings people together
And ultimately,
fear tears people apart
It is really tragic that the W sold himself as a “uniter, not a divider.” Because the penultimate political strategy for this administration is to divide, separate, and concquer – Vini Vidi Vici – but in the end, what will they be left with. That indeed, from my view is a constitution riddled with holes, a divided nation very much on the brink of economic ruin – see, in the end, fear begets more fear and pessimism.
I think it was Roosevelt that said, “we have nothing to fear but fear itself.” And he couldn’t have been a better prognosticator – he was spot on.
Blog on brother, blog on.
Oh, I’m going to link up – again. Hope you don’t mind.
December 22nd, 2005 at 3:12 am
Your first sentence is the only thing I think we need to take the country back. We need to get people believing that again instead of seeing us as a nation of fear. We can’t stop everyone who wants to hurt us, but we can keep from hurting ourselves.
By living in fear instead of hope, we open the door to belittling our fellow citizens and destroying ourselves from within. I have said many times that America is about hope and opportunity. By promoting fear as the national agenda, we have set ourselves back in many areas and are still really no safer
December 23rd, 2005 at 2:50 am
Ha ha ha ha ha….this blog sucks. You sound like a bunch of whiney estrogen filled “progressive” women.
December 23rd, 2005 at 4:56 am
“Government is also exploiting our legitimate fear of enemy attacks into an excuse to abridge freedom and bypass the rule of law.” – The use of fear to achieve political goals: the very definition of terrorism.
December 23rd, 2005 at 6:39 am
Hey, I’m a Christian and I’m not trying to make people die for me so I can get to some sort of apocalypse sooner. You make an awful lot of serious charges against us (me) in your blog without any evidence to support it. Why would you say stuff like that?
Yes, I do believe the world is going to end at an unknown point in time. God’s in charge of it, in my view. I don’t have to do anything to hurry it along.
December 23rd, 2005 at 7:43 am
Sorry Ken – You missed it on this one. ‘Common Sense’ needs to be torn down from the banner of your post and ‘Hate Bush Diatribe’ needs to be placed in it’s stead. – This post is pitiful. I’ve read other stuff you have blogged and found some of it thoughtful. This tripe however just takes the Democratic handbook with Michaels Moore’s footnotes and splatters it on the internet.
Can you say that anything on this post is original? You really should be ashamed of this entire posting. Sad.
I’d like to know if you personally know ANY Christians like those you have described.
I answered you more fully on my blog but even there what I would like to say is incomplete. I think I hit a couple of the highlights. – You are more than welcome to comment there as I have here. http://prying1.blogspot.com/2005/12/sacred-cows-of-left-put-on-barby.html –
December 23rd, 2005 at 10:11 am
Hi,
This is just a calling card to say I’ve read your blog (or at least a little) via BlogExlposion. I hate the fact that you can win credits to view peoples sites, and people just click right through it.
I especially liked the blog about your father’s heart valves… (And I’m afraid I’m not American, so, to save myself from listening to patriotic stories, I’ve skipped yours… But you are a good writer in my opinion).
Thanks for the read,
James
buildingahouse.blogspot.com
discoverycard.blogspot.com
December 23rd, 2005 at 11:29 am
… maybe taking responsibility.
I pretty much disagree with your opening paragraphs. I believe fear has always been the motivator. Think of the underlying conflict of the Civil War. A real fear of losing the type of life and lifestyle dependent on slavery. Individually, we are all responsible. What if half the country woke up tmrw and stopped using that which is dependent on oil?
December 23rd, 2005 at 9:05 pm
First of all, I’d like to compliment “Dick’s List”for being one of the stupidest blogs in the blogosphere, and that is saying something. We all had a small taste of this stupidity with the “Administrator’s” little piece of childlike drivel. Let us all hope that science comes up with something that might even help people like him someday, although I doubt we’ll ever progress to that point.
Now, to address your topic. This is a topic I have thought long about, and I have come to some conclusions that are probably correct in most cases, although there are probably exceptions.
The people who do the toughest talking are the biggest cowards of the lot. These are people who would piss themselves if they saw a strange looking man walking up the sidewalk of their cul-de-sac at night, but do not hesitate to allow someone else do their fighting for them, and in fact would like to see the fighting expanded.
They also happen to be incredibly selfish people-they want their wars, and they want their police and fire protection, and they want their potholes fixed, and they want their great schools, but they do not want to be asked to contribuite anything themselves-not service, not money, not anything but hot air and a yellow car magnet.
These are the Shrubberals-liberal with your blood and your money, but damned “conservative” when it comes to doing anything for anyone but themselves.
The fearmongering that Rove has perfected touches the very soul of the Shrubberal.
The Shrubberal lies awake at night, worrying about the day that “they” will move into his neighborhood, with their different looks, and different worship practices, and their cars not late-model Denalis. “They,” of course covers a lot of ground, and Rove knows how to exploit that fear-when he saw that threatening the Shrubberals with Osama wasn’t going to be enough to get his trained monkey past the post again, he invoked something that is even more frightening to the Shruberral-the gay couple.
El Shrubbo has the Shrubberals convinced that it’s OK to not want to pay for anything, that we can endlessly spill blood without ever having to draft anyone, that he, and only he, understands what they are afraid of-and that he alone can keep the tax man, the draft board, and the gay couple away from them. And they blindly follow along, ignoring both history and present trends.
December 27th, 2005 at 7:07 am
(responses)
xianfu- thanks for dropping by. and I do tend to write logner posts. but many feel they are worth the read. I sure do.
windspike- thanks, as always, for the extra exposure. And yes, fear is the real enemy, as FDR implied. Too bad we seem to have forgotten that these days.
Me4- Agree with you all the way. Thanks for dropping in.
Shea- And alive and well in America today. Glad to hear from you.
Monika- I don’t mean to paint all Christians with the same brush intentionally, just those who like to scream loudest like the Robertsons, Dobsons, and Falwells…these are the folks who would like to see themselves proved righteous and true with the stories in revelation coming to light. And while I shouldn’t over generalize, it is YOUR religion that is being hijacked by these guys. I have no problem with people practicing their religion until it sets this country on a path towards destruction. Many of the guys calling the shots are part of the PNAC and claim to be of the “religious right.” Yet they certainly aren’t acting much like followers of Christ.
Prying1- Sorry, I don’t read Moore or the DNC handbook- never have for that matter.
As for the remarks about Christianity, please see my response to Monika above.
As you’ve enjoyed previous posts here from time to time, scratch this up to one we don’t see eye to eye on. I read your post on this essay at your blog, but saw that I was defended by other commenters there, so won’t extend the conversation much more at this late date.
Thanks as always for the comments though.
James- Thanks for the comments. I checked out your blogs, but don’t have a discover card and am not building a house. Hope all goes well for you though!
Blue Turtle- Fear is the tool of the cynical and the power hungry. But you are right…we each fear different things. Too bad we don’t all fear the loss of freedom and democracy as long as we have our cheap Wal-mart crap.
Thanks for dropping by.
Jolly- I don’t even bother with replying to some people, and TLA is one of them.
As for your comments about this post, I thank you for a nice addition. Comments like yours are what actually contribute to a rational dialogue.
December 27th, 2005 at 7:34 am
Ken,
I would tend to agree with prying1 on this post — this sort of purely partisan attack is beneath Common Sense.
Your take on fear vs. hope mystifies me. You portray an aggressive stance against terrorism as “fear” and talk about hope as if hope as if it can resolve any problems. Hope is just like the religion you berate — it’s pie-in-the-sky, head in the sand stuff. Fear motivates and motivation is the only path to survival.
December 27th, 2005 at 6:14 pm
(response)
Harvey- Fear is a primitive instinct that we share with all animals. Hope is uniquely human.
Fear causes you to react, and not always rationally. Hope encourages you to create.
Agressively defending ourselves does not have to be based on fear. Hope is not just “pie-in-the-sky.”
Without hope, we’d still be stuck in the middle ages. It is hope that spawned America. Fear is not a motivator for progress, only a harbinger of repression.
Happy new year and thanks for the comments.
December 28th, 2005 at 6:53 am
harvey displays precisely the fear that you warn against.
He chooses to ignore the rampant corruption and the extra-legal, Liberty-stripping ways of his leadership and instead focuses on an “agressive” stance on terrorism, a point he cannot prove with any available data. Unless he considers all dissenters “terrorists.”
Why would he ignore what the leadership is doing, as supposedly all “conservatives” believe in integrity, Liberty, and smaller Government?
The answer is a simple one, isn’t it?
December 30th, 2005 at 8:56 am
Ken,
I’m a newcomer to your site, and just wanted to say that I share your overall view that we have changed from a nation of hopes and dreams to one manipulated by an exaggerated, over-hyped cloud of fear. That “fear factor” is a card that’s been played time and time again by the Bush Administration to distract us from the gradual disappearance of our once forward-thinking society. It threatens to turn neighbor against neighbor, provides the basis for the militarization of American culture, and conditions a gullible public to accept the idea of a world perpetually at war.
For four long years, the government and cooperative media loyalists have shamefully exploited our collective sense of shock over 9/11 to relentlessly execute the PNAC vision for this century. Let’s face it – although, as you point out, there are definite domestic vulnerabilities to terrorist attack which must be addressed, we all have a greater chance of being killed or injured in a car accident on any given day than as the result of an act of Islamic terrorism. And I don’t say this lightly. I watched two friends perish in the Twin Towers that September morning, and my knee-jerk lust for revenge helped to enable Mr. Bush’s pursuit of war, and the atmosphere of fear that followed.
But my initial fear of dangers from abroad has come to be replaced by a fear of three more years under the reign of this Administration. A fear of further divisiveness and bitterness across the nation. A fear of the continuing loss of civil and Constitutional rights. A fear (when I look at polls saying that 41% of our citizens still believe that Saddam had ties to al Qaeda) that this is no longer my America.
Thanks for a great post. I’m working to channel those fears into activism, communication, charity – and, yes, hope for a better tomorrow. Keep fighting the good fight.
Bob P
http://www.thehueandcry.com
January 3rd, 2006 at 3:54 am
ken I am so happy to read one of such intelligent understanding,and
I also believe that God would not want us to wage war or to live our lives in fear. But fear has been used and I am glad you have brought it into the light,we can’t always live our lives in fear or play policeman to the world or force beliefs on other nations,and as you have pointed out concerning
our history as view points and knowing it took us about 230 years to get to the point we’re at now.
it is ironic that the Iraqis voted
against everyone who we supported in that election,hey I could go on and on but with this I will say; Keep on blogging,I’ll keep on reading.
January 3rd, 2006 at 8:09 am
(responses)
Jolly- yes, pretty simple. They are making his favorite flavor of Kool-Aid again.
Bob- Welcome! I share your sense of alarm and am often confounded at the lack of clarity that is replaced by greed and a sense of superiority/entitlement. So many of our troubles are planted in our own lack of interest in anyone but ourselves that we fail to see when we lose our own freedoms simply because we’ve forgotten what they mean.
Hope to hear from you again!
withinreason-thanks for the generous compliment. I just try to say what makes sense. your comments are always welcome here.