By: Carlo Barbieri
It’s not unusual for people to fear what they don’t understand. The first day of a new job can be traumatic for those who haven’t quite grasped the necessary tasks. People are afraid to fly because of perceived dangers, even though flight is proven to be the safest way to travel.
It’s often said that perception is more real than reality. Tapping into a person’s psyche and one’s ability to comprehend can change that person’s mind and make him or her disregard good sense in favor of what sounds good and believable, but is probably not true.
When people of any nation reach the point of fearing their own government because they don’t understand or believe what political leaders are telling them, that is a horrible day. Unfortunately, it appears the United States is heading in that direction.
Politicians are often said to speak in partial truths, doing fancy verbal dances around facts and offering vague explanations. Historically, this hasn’t always been the case. President Harry S. Truman was known for his candor. “The buck stops here,” a phrase most associated with him, says it all.
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, President John F. Kennedy had to confront the country on national TV with facts about a potentially disastrous situation just 90 miles off the coast of the United States. He couldn’t mince words – and he didn’t.
Lately, though, politics has become a negative business. The elections of 2012 provided fertile ground for politicians running for various offices to sow the seeds of negativism against their opponents. Many of their ads and TV commercials were simply recitations of their foes’ dark sides, with little attention to accuracy. No wonder many voters were confused and even fearful of the outcome of some political races.
Many politicians try to convince people that something is good or bad, even if they can’t specify why. They also argue that some issues are bad for people, and if voters don’t agree, the politicians tell them they are “out of touch” or have taken the argument “out of context.”
Abortion is such an issue. If you side with those who are against abortion, you are told you are ignoring women’s rights. If you favor abortion as a choice, you are labeled a child killer.
The early 21st century isn’t the first time fear has been used as a whip. In the early 1950s, Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Joe McCarthy launched his “Witch Hunt” to root out communists in America at a time when the U.S. was terrified of the “Red Scare.” Many innocent people were “blacklisted” and their lives and occupations destroyed in this psychological cleansing effort.
A decade later, American soldiers were sent to Vietnam to fight a war they didn’t understand, dispatched by a military that didn’t understand the ramifications. Soldiers trained in World War II battle tactics died in jungles filled with snipers and booby traps – tactics they didn’t understand.
At home, the inability to grasp what was truly happening ignited protests. Soldiers returning home from Southeast Asia had to face the misinformed hatred of people who should have praised them for answering the nation’s call. It would take decades for that situation to be fully understood.
In past columns, we have predicted the coming of a Second American Civil War, one that will divide us into classes. This “war” of mind and not blood will mainly pit the middle class and wealthy against each other. It is happening right now. The leftist minority is intimidating the conservative majority, calling them right-wingers and telling them they are bad, wrong or “not in.” Liberals say that if you don’t agree with them, then you are wrong and possibly anti-American.
Liberals disregard the importance of the nation’s growing financial crisis, allowing the debt to rise, federal spending to remain out of control and the economy to suffer without a second thought. They endorse the idea that the “monied class” can always be tapped for more cash. “Success,” they say, is bad. Entrepreneurs should pay more so the non-monied classes can survive without work.
This nation needs to grasp reality. People need to bring common sense back to the table. It is the only frame of mind that will allow Americans to disregard lies and demand the truth, to question lame rhetoric and pursue the facts, to halt overspending and bring stability to a nation whose leaders are leaving its citizens wanting.