Posted on 08/02/2007 7:02:56 AM PDT by lfrancis
The Fear Factor
July 30, 2007
While fear itself is not always the product of irrationality, once experienced it tends to lead away from reason, especially if the experience is extreme in duration or intensity. When people are fearful they tend to be willing to irrationally surrender their rights.
Thus, fear is a threat to rational liberty. The psychology of fear is an essential component of those who would have us believe we must increasingly rely on the elite who manage the apparatus of the central government.
The statement “Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety” has been attributed to Benjamin Franklin. It is clear, people seek out safety and security when they are in a state of fear, and it is the result of this psychological state that often leads to the surrender of liberty.
As Washington moves towards it summer legislative recess, indications of fear are apparent. Things seem similar to the days before the war in Iraq. Prior to the beginning of the war, several government officials began using phrases like “we don’t want the smoking gun to come in the form of a mushroom cloud,” and they spoke of drone airplanes being sent to our country to do us great harm.
It is hard to overstate the damage this approach does psychologically, especially to younger people. Of course, we now know there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, let alone any capacity to put them to successful use.
To calm fears, Americans accepted the patriot act and the doctrine of pre-emptive war. We tolerated new laws that allow the government to snoop on us, listen to our phone calls, track our financial dealings, make us strip down at airports and even limited the rights of habeas corpus and trial by jury. Like some dysfunctional episode of the twilight zone, we allowed the summit of our imagination to be linked up with the pit of our fears.
Paranoia can be treated, but the loss of liberty resulting from the social psychology to which we continue to subject ourselves is not easily reversed. People who would have previously battled against encroachments on civil liberties now explain the “necessity” of those “temporary security measures” Franklin is said to have railed against.
Americans must reflect on their irrational fears if we are to turn the tide against the steady erosion of our freedoms. Fear is the enemy. The logically confusing admonition to “fear only fear” does not help, instead we must battle against irrational fear and the fear-mongers who promote it.
It is incumbent on a great nation to remain confident, if it wishes to remain free. We need not be ignorant to real threats to our safety, against which we must remain vigilant. We need only to banish to the ash heap of history the notion that we ought to be ruled by our fears and those who use them to enhance their own power.
Poor Ron. At one time I thought that he had something going for him. He’s had years to try to be relevant but hasn’t done anything. His lunacy is beginning to show.
I fear folks who decry the Patriot Act without understanding what is in it. As Mel Gibson's character stated in The Patriot, we should fear the 3,000 tyrants one mile away more than one prospective tyrant in DC. Last I checked, my liberties had been infringed far more by local and state governments.
Meanwhile, one thing the fedgov SHOULD be doing, namely tracking and stopping our enemies, needs to be able to keep up with technology.
Well, RP and Alex Jones DO know the “fear factor”, and they wear it well, lol!
To all Ron Paul supporters in Iowa, use the Romney bus to get to the Ames Staw Poll!!
http://ronpaulpledge.com/wordpress/?p=21
I think its a brilliant idea! Paul supporters using Mitt’s money to vote for Ron!
Anti-truth, anti-freedom, anti-life collectives are a threat to liberty, Ron. Identify them and the individuals that are members of them. Fear is for weak people. Who do you fear, Ron?
We can only hope that the memory of Ron Paul’s ill-advised candidacy will be shorter than a Lindsay Lohan rehab encounter.
Facing the enemy head on is not fear, being realistic about a threat is not fear! It may cause fear in some, but that isn’t the problem of those who are facing the enemy, that is a personal problem with those who are afraid..
Paul and the dems can go stick their heads in the sand so they don’t have to hear about the big bad people out to get them.. the rest of the country will face it head on and deal with it..
LOL, paraphrasing from bad movies, ones about liberal Presidents, is now an argument?
It is hard to overstate the damage this approach does psychologically, especially to younger people. Of course, we now know there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, let alone any capacity to put them to successful use.
Unfortunately Rep. Paul it's done quite an effect on the middle agers it seems. The young crowd seem to see through it, at least if some of your supporters is any evidence.
If we close our eyes, and click our heels together three times, and say, “We have no enemies, we have no enemies, we have no enemies...”
Will they go away?
I fear Hillary and what she might do with the Patriot Act.
Indeed,
power corrupts............
Like some dysfunctional episode of The Twilight Zone, Paul is channeling John Kerry and John Murtha and repeating this unsubstantiated tripe.. Hey Paul, guess what, the rights of habeas corpus, and even the Geneva convention doesn't apply to un-uniformed combatants on a battlefield.
bttt
RP wants to return to the Constitution—but, alas, the people want to continue w/kings...
We deserve what we get—even if it’s hillary!
Yes but the blame america buffoon(paul) threads does provide entertainment
It's why Schemer announced there'd be no more affirmations. The fight for the courts is arguably as or more important than the shooting war. Both must be fought and won.
There is fear, and there is fear. I hear the Liberals and RP complain about using the fear of Terrorism to get all sorts of nefarious things passed. Fear of Fear is what I hear. {/seuss}
But what about the other fear, and that is, Fear of nefarious things being passed? If anyone is in deep irrational FEAR, its the Liberals and their FEAR of Bush and Republicans. To listen to them, we are Nazis and Fascists, with prison and re-education camps ready to go. So which fear is the irrational one. Fear of terrorists who have killed thousands of Americans already, plus destroyed up to a trillion dollars worth of American property and economy, or fear of the Boogie Man (conservatives)?
Ron will not win, but I feel that he does America a great service by voicing his concern for preserving constitutional liberties.
The current leading candidates consider the constitution an obstacle to be overcome.
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