The Politics of Fear? Or Reality?

I want to talk about fear mongering.

Is it fear mongering when we tell young children they shouldn’t talk to strangers?

Is it fear mongering when news stations warn of a tornado alert?

Is it fear mongering to warn that there are terrorists organizations that are dedicated to striking at the United States?

When FDR said that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” he wasn’t talking about the Germans or the Japanese. He wasn’t talking about WWII at all. He was referring to the Great Depression. The Great Depression was due in part to a crisis of confidence in the economy generally, and the banking system in particular. Fear WAS the enemy because people being afraid to spend money or to even put money in the bank made the Depression worse.

But terrorism is different than consumer confidence. The threat is real whether you are afraid or not. Who will do a better job of protecting the country is a legitimate consideration for voters.

People can certainly disagree about how best to protect the country and where to draw the line between safety and civil liberties. But there really is no question among serious people that there is a threat.

I have read comments elsewhere citing statistics about how many people in the United States die each year from handguns or automobile accidents and contrasting it with the “merely” 3,000 people killed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Leaving aside for a moment the impact on our economy, the 1 million jobs lost in the 90 days after the attacks, the impact on the stock market, and the cost of rebuilding, can we be sure that the next attack will only kill 3,000 people? Remember the first WTC bombing only killed 6 people. Does that mean that the next attack could kill 150,000? I certainly hope not. But I have no doubt Al Qaeda would not hesitate if it saw the opportunity to kill that many or even more.

Is my citing a potential 150,000 casualties fear mongering? Maybe. We could argue that point. But ultimately the threat of terrorism remains and we need a debate about where to draw the line on interrogations, wiretapping, and a host of other issues. Obama, Clinton, and McCain all have the right to try to differentiate themselves on this issue without being accused of fear mongering.