(Military Times) Op-Ed: The Luxury of Hope over Fear

[unhappycamper]

The Luxury of Hope over Fear
Ward Carroll | November 05, 2008

In the last pre-presidential election poll Military.com ran earlier this week, 78 percent of our readers picked John McCain over Barack Obama. In a poll conducted the following day, the leading answer to the question "What issue was the most important to you as you voted for president" was "the economy" (39 percent) – even more important than "the wars" (32 percent). Juxtaposing these two polls not only yields one of the answers to how Obama won the election, it also shows the degree to which Americans, even Americans with war fighting experience, are convinced Jihadist elements are no longer an imminent threat.

On the morning after the election the pundits sum up the results with the idea that Barack Obama's victory is one of hope over fear. And assuming that's true, the ability for a people carry that out is a luxury that shouldn't be taken for granted.

Contrast this presidential election with the one held four years ago. The year 2004 has faded as a distant memory now, but think back: That the Rovian-style political operatives were able to leverage fear in Americans to win a second term for George W. Bush says more about the fact that Americans were actually scared at that time than it does about the hired guns ability to affect outcomes at will.

In 2004 the Iraq War was going poorly. Casualty rates were high. The insurgency was proliferating. Al Qaeda was blooming in new places, and Bin Laden and his confidants were releasing messages at a regular clip. Major European cities were weathering terrorist attacks.

America wasn't scared because Karl Rove told it to be. America was scared because the times were scary to the degree that the majority of voters feared a change at the top. Four years later not only has that fear faded, it is all but gone from the national consciousness.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,178658,00.html?wh=news

[UnrepentantUnitarian]

1. Pretty much bullshit!

This nation was founded--and its military is committed--to premises of hope and potential, rather than fear and degradation. That ideal--that says we all have "better angels" in our nature that deserve to be accentuated and cultivated--is more than just a luxury. Yes, there are things to be legitimately afraid of, but I don't believe that "living in fear" is itself a luxury we can afford. (FDR was right on that.) Rule by fear is exactly what those who would bring down our way of life would like to happen...in fact, it's what they know best, and what they do best. I, for one, believe we can do better than that.