Joy at Seven Falls (02/07/11) — Image by kenne
I first posted “The Demons of Fear” in December 2005 during the George W. Bush administration. What I was writing about twenty years ago is still very relevant today.
The Demons of Fear
Like many Americans, my formative years were at a time when communism was our only axis of evil. The reasons for qualifying as evil were many, e.g., starting wars against smaller countries, breaking international laws, torturing people, espionage organizations spying on their own people, controlling information, and building a giant prison industry, to name a few. Such reasons were easy to believe because of the simplistic notion that if communism (then) was evil, capitalism (we) was good. Therefore, we would never, never, never do such things. (Such acts are bad, and, of course, we are good!)
“Never say never!” Even more significantly, “. . . don’t make the mistake of believing your own lies.” Of course, in politics, the custom is “Never tell a lie when you can bullshit your way through.”
Truth cannot be found in talking points based on good vs. evil. This is the so-called “cowboy” mentality that our president and many in Congress have bottled and continue to sell to the American public.
Justifying acts based on false dichotomies only falsifies reality. But the convenient reversal of good and evil is an even bigger sin. One current example is our leadership’s support for the nomination of a judge based on his strict constitutionalist views while authorizing secret acts allowing spying on Americans.
Such secret executive decisions are troubling and represent an attitude of political convenience that considers nothing of treading on the basic liberties protected by our Constitution. Even after Congress passed the USA Patriot Act, which allowed our demons of fear to trespass on our liberties, the President pretentiously felt that additional infringements on the Constitution and our liberties were necessary.
Over three years ago, Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden (head of the National Security Agency) stated to a joint House-Senate inquiry on intelligence (ref. NY Times):
“We need to get it right. We have to find the right balance between protecting our security and protecting our liberty. “. . . What I really need you to do is talk to your constituents and find out where the American people want that line between security and liberty to be.”
Can we get it right? Can we bury our demons of fear? Can you! Can I?
For many, the politics of fear generates skepticism, which denies reliable access to an objective reality and “. . . therefore rejects the possibility of knowing how things truly are.” If reality has no inherent nature, then to “get it right,” each one of us must be true to our nature. Truth, like love, can exist only when the tombstones of our demons have been erected.
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