Who needs terrorists? We can scare the shit out of ourselves, thank you very much. We have Bush’s wet dream of an End Times scenario where he would like to usher in World War III before, according to him, the Persians, start some trouble in a few years. We have Rudy Kazootie telling us that untold hoards of dark skinned demons are out to kill us all and we better elect him so he can incinerate them over the next eight years. We have Michele Malkin, who prefers going house to house to threaten and scare the sneaky wretches who need assistance with exorbitant medical costs. How dare they! We have the banks and credit card companies that make it easy to borrow and spend and allow people to obtain suspicious loans to buy houses only to discover to their horror that they are in over their heads and will lose everything and be indebted for forever.
I understand the need to protect the security of our Homeland. No one wants to feel as if we’re turning into something along the lines of Israel, where the simple act of going to mall or going out for a pizza could be your last mortal act. No one wants to fear the possibility of someone walking in with a bomb strapped to their torso and detonating it in a crowded public area. Safety and security in the wake of 9.11 SHOULD be a priority. The problem with the past six-plus years, though, is that we’ve allowed those willing to exploit that legitimate fear to do so for their own craven political purposes. The reality here is that Republicans grasped early on that the legitimate fear of terrorism, if properly exploited, could be their path to continuing their vise-grip on political power…and so it was. They didn’t really even have to take any positive action. If they could find a way to manipulate the fear of terrorism, they could write their own ticket…and so they did.
It’s not that fear of terrorism isn’t a legitimate emotion. History dictates that this fear is certainly not without justification. Yes, 9.11 certainly demonstrated the reality of the threat we face…but it’s not as if we weren’t vulnerable to a terrorist attack until 9.11 (Anyone remember the first attack on the World Trade Center…in 1993??).
I’m tired of the politics of fear, and I’m sick to death of Republicans who trade on that fear in order to secure our votes. Sadly, most of the American Sheeple are easily manipulable, so it doesn’t take a whole lot. Give a speech using the collapsing World Trade Center Towers as a real (or even metaphorical) backdrop, throw in a few warnings about the coming Apocalypse if we should waver in our resolve to fight terrorism and protect Our Way of Life. Before you know it, sheeple lose their willingness and ability to think clearly and rationally. I’m not saying that all Republicans use this method, or that no Democrats do, but d’ya think there is a reason why Rudy Giuliani uses “9.11” as his campaign mantra? Why do you think Republicans keep repeating “9.11” as if it’s some sort of magic bullet that indicates their resolve and willingness to protect the Homeland in a way that those pussy, terrorist-lovin’ Libruls can’t and won’t?
Somewhere along the way we lost our ability and willingness to think critically. It’s not that this country has ever been a nation with a particularly high political IQ, but I miss the days when we weren’t collectively channelling Chicken Little. Then again, it would appear that we have EXACTLY the quality of political leadership we deserve, eh?
