Against False Fears

It's been a while since I did a blog;  medical issues have come to our house, resolving now, and life is better and lighter!

I've been thinking about the very verbal folks these days working on (and building up) fear.  Fear about the economy, fear of the government, fear of secret and hidden forces that are a clear and present danger to simple folks such as us living in East Texas.  There's just a lot of it.

I remember when I was a youth, there was a huge amount of fear being "stoked" by Senator Joseph McCarthy and other, the anticommunist crusaders who saw communists and communist-sympathizers everywhere.  They must be exposed.  They must be black-listed, not allowed on stage or screen or in newspapers.  Huge hearings in Washington, recruiting people to turn other people in.

There was an uncle who was totally into "the cause".  He was a "true" patriot.  My Dad was NOT into the cause.  I asked him one day why not?  "Well, most of the charges being made are false, in the first place.  In the second place, they are being used to attract attention and further the political careers of a few folks.  And, in the third place, communism, especially as practiced in the Soviet Union, is so flawed a system that it will fall of its own weight!"

Well, McCarthy was totally discredited, a major assistant, Richard Nixon, lasted a bit longer and went higher, only to collapse in intrigue and dishonesty.  And the Soviet Union?  It collapsed, from the inside, because it was a totally unworkable system of governance.

Every government that lasts rules with the consent of the governed!  No consent:  no durability.  We've forgotten that basic political truth, it seems.  Truth works.  Wild charges, re-writing the Constitution to favor a political viewpoint, obstuctionism, and the apparent chorus of Chicken Little, all roll along.  But TRUTH continues to win arguments.

I remember Dad coming home from the office one day, after having met with a very influential leader of the city who was paranoid about communists.  They managed a pleasant conversation.  Dad said the only reason it stayed pleasant was because the man across the desk had no idea of the contents of the books on my Dad's shelf!  Paranoid, uneducated in either history or politics, emotionally over the top, the visitor never stopped talking!  But he followed Senator McCarthy without question.  And his day passed, and the emotions are largely forgotten.

Learning history BEFORE pronouncing judgement on leaders or on the Constitution is really a pretty good idea.  But human nature forgets that.  When we choose to listen to whoever talks at the greatest volume, we can be both fooled and frightened.  Unfortunately, some folks try to defend the Constitution without reading it.

The next time someone angrily tells you what the Constitution MEANS, don't argue, just go and read the relevant part.  Maybe they just don't know, after all, and it is just the paranoia speaking.

We can do better, you know.