The Highway.com

The only thing we have to fear in 21st century America is everything, from how many “carbs” we consume, to ("God forbid") getting lung cancer from the guy having a smoke half a mile away in rush hour traffic. We see enemies to our health, safety, and welfare around every corner, right down to the red, pointy tailed, boogey man just itching to turn us into an eternal flame, and virtually every decision we make hinges on how we can keep out of harm’s way.

And you think our politicians haven’t figured it out?

During World War II, our nation directly faced global domination by a megalomaniac who was as twisted as he was ruthless.  His war machine in the West was flanked by an ancient imperialistic regime in the East. The entire world felt the sting of their advance, as nations literally became battlefields. Even two oceans could not isolate us from the devastation, a "war to end all wars" that we reluctantly joined.  People went without, because it meant we would survive in the end, and we met the challenge with courage and vigilance. The threat was real, obvious, tangible, and combatable. We had a clear goal . . . kill or be killed. We knew how we were going to get there . . . with courage, sacrifice, and resolve. Fear had no place in the equation.

Today, our enemy is fear itself. We are fighting the War on Terrorism, which alone should be causing us to question what is really going on. Our enemy is not the man hiding in a cave half way around the world, but the threat of what he might do. The battlefield is not in the streets of our cities, but in the hearts and minds of normally good people. We are making long term decisions and acting on them to combat a possibility, and the sacrifices we make are far more destructive than buildings and lives we seek to protect.  We surrender to fear, as we look for the enemy in every shadow. We rob ourselves of common sense, as we try to second guess his next move. We scramble around like Chicken Little waiting for the sky to fall every time he says "Boo!"  We throw away our civil liberties, the very foundation of our way of life, so we can feel safe. We throw away the future while waiting for the past to happen again. We destroy our credibility with every new goose egg we dig up. We say the enemy could be anyone, everyone. A man, a simple man who bleeds like any one of us, becomes a demon, and the most powerful nation in the world jumps at his threats. We throw away a life worth living, in the event somebody may die.

Osama Bin Laden's primary weapon is fear itself, and he has beaten us quite handily thus far. 

Why?

Fear translates into votes, and someone else has made us very afraid.

Our economy is in the toilet, but the War on Terrorism should decide our next government? Our longstanding alliances around the globe are eroding beyond repair, but Osama Bin Laden should dictate our vote? Our 1st and 5th Amendment rights are getting stripped daily, but Iraqi democracy should be our primary concern? This is exactly what George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Tom Ridge, and the rest of our current government want us to believe.

“You should be afraid!"  They remind us whenever they feel us losing confidence in them, "Today is a yellow day, tomorrow an orange. They are casing our businesses and homes as we speak (though it really happened three years ago, but pay no attention to that). Our vigilance is keeping you safe, but not safe enough. You still need us, because the "Evildoer" and his dark minions want to get you. We know we have cried wolf a lot of times before, but next time it really will come, if you don't listen to us.  You don’t want somebody new to watch over you. Jump through our hoops. Let us continue to protect you.  After all, look at the great job we have done thus far!”

This is their platform, their only strength, their only guarantee of four more years of employment as our leaders.

In my humble opinion, perpetuating fear (complete with an ever elusive arch-villian of mythological proportions) to sell salvation is the stuff of Fundamentalist Christianity, dictatorships, and Nazi Germany . . . not the United States of America.  Come November, I’ll remember the words of Franklin D. Roosevelt.  I will keep the spirit of a nearly bankrupt nation that overcame seemingly insurmountable odds to make the world free and emerge as its new leader. I will vote my conscience, not the fear that Bush, Cheney Ridge, and the so-called conservative right sell. I will vote to remove those who would keep us all afraid, impotent and dependent. I will vote for a chance at a solution, not four more years of the same. Mr. Kerry, you can count on at least one vote, and I wish you success. You sell hope. You sell unity. You sell a promise of peace and resolve, and right now I see a nation sorely in need.