How has fear affected American politics?

Question

Would you say that fear has supplanted reason in national discourse?

Answer 1

Yes. It's primary affect is working class voters being frightened into voting for people who simply want to make them poorer, but who claim their goal is to keep them safer.

Answer 2

I'd say the politicians are VERY good at playing on the emotions of the voters, not just fear. You see it every election. They pull out the hot button topics that get people stirred up and then put them away once they are elected. They can't possibly solve the issues, they're too valuable as re-election tools.

So many people vote with their emotions instead of by informed decisions. The mudslinging works, unfortunately. It's not just our elected officials either, its the initiatives & referendums too. Last year my state passed a Clean Energy Bill, which I totally agree with the intent & purpose. BUT, I didn't like one little line in it -- Hydroelectricity is not a renewable resource. That reclassification was rarely mentioned in the propaganda; not to mention untrue. The Bill supporters played on our emotionally driven environmental concerns, and got it passed. Now the % of electricity from Hydro for residents is lowered; all the excess can be sold out of state for BIG profit. We are now seeing our cheap, pretty clean electricity being sold to CA and our bills going up; and people who voted YES dare to complain about it.

I wish I could remember the comic & his routine about how the homosexual civil unions would destroy the American Family. It showed how ridiculous that notion is. American Families are very good at destroying themselves. People should get it into to their heads, some families really are better off apart. I don't see how domestic violence, child abuse, teen pregnancy, drug/alcohol addiction, etc can be logically blamed on the gay couple next door. We had all these problems in the "good ol' days" it was just that nobody talked about it and the news didn't cover it. Wives were still beaten bloody, girls got sent to "visit a relative"; are people so naive to think that this is all new!?!?

Answer 3

I don't believe it is fear -- but rather disinterest on the part of the american voter to make their politics more important than the breakfast cereal they choose or the car they buy. In the age of YouTube, the 10 second sound bite and text messaging, is it any wonder that the vast majority of the american voting public is disconnected from the political process? A great democrat once said, "The only we have to fear, is fear itself." So don't fear it -- find a way to get people truly involved in their choices

Answer 4

I would say that *emotion* has supplanted or at least temporarily displaced the usage of logic and reason in most matters of political discourse. This is to be expected, since it is easier to appeal to human emotion than it is to appeal to the more esoteric sense of logic and reason. Politicians of all varieties have used this tactic ever since human societies have evolved and they will continue to use it because it tends to be effective. The challenge is for the *audience* (e.g., voters in a democracy) to differentiate fact from fiction . Removing human emotions from the political equation is very difficult at best, but it is the responsibility of each person in the electoral process to use a modicum of common sense and healthy skepticism when dealing with politicians and their obsequious adherents.

Answer 5

Not so much fear as ignorance as to what goes on behind the scenes and the ability of some to emote instead of logically taking in information, discerning what it means and putting it in context.

Answer 6

It appears that fear has become the principal factor of American politics, yes.

Answer 7

It has us a prisoner in our own country while Osama is free. Bet he doesn't have to take his shoes off at the airport. Nor Carry 3oz of lotion God help us. all in the name of fear. I would rather be free to come and go and when or if we are hit do great damage to them and their country for harboring such ill will people. This is madness we are fighting a concept. have we all gone mad.

Answer 8

well from what i see around me 24-7,,I think stupidity is more volatile than actual fear.national discourse as you call it ,will not work,,i think,,,once the truth soaks into the population,there going get mad...can try free willy,,,but lol...its a bust dude..big time..long term..by.freepress

Answer 9

I don't fear. I just know we need to win decisively because the radical islamists won't understand anything else. They think their god is with them, and if we pull out of Iraq they will "know it for sure".

Answer 10

Who will protect us. From Unemployment and terrorists. that is the two biggest fears.