Fear
Reading for Fifty Year Perspective exposes me to a variety of perspectives on current events in general and politics in particular. Several of my recent posts have examined causes and effects of polarized politics, and I am no longer surprised at the depressing level of civic discourse. Even so, I have become especially troubled seeing the word “fear” used by American writers describing conditions that would more likely be found in a dictatorship.
Katharine Hayhoe, in her book Saving Us, perceives fear of change as a common factor in “a toxic stew of identity issues” including coronavirus, vaccines and climate denial. “Societal change,” she writes, “is happening faster today than at any time in our lifetimes, and many are afraid they’re already being left behind. That fear drives tribalism, emphasizing what divides us rather than what unites us.”
That type of fear corresponds to what President Franklin D. Roosevelt observed in the famous quote from his first inaugural address: “…the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” Do not retreat from the work to be done, he was saying, but do what is necessary to advance beyond the challenge.
A far more troubling fear is described by Max Boot in a Washington Post opinion piece. Trying to understand acceptance of patently false conspiracy theories, Boot cited evidence of fear for their safety among Republicans if they voted to impeach Trump in January 2021: “One of the pro-impeachment Republicans, Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio), is leaving Congress in part, he says, because of the danger to him and his family. Even the 13 House Republicans who recently voted for a bipartisan infrastructure bill have received death threats.”
In his first week as a member of the House of Representatives, Republican Peter Meijer of Michigan joined a dozen GOP representatives who opposed attempts to deny certifying Joe Biden’s election. He expressed his sadness at what he observed: “I had colleagues who, when it came time to recognize reality and vote to certify Arizona and Pennsylvania in the Electoral College, they knew in their heart of hearts that they should’ve voted to certify, but some had legitimate concerns about the safety of their families. They felt that that vote would put their families in danger.”
Katharine Hayhoe’s fear threatens progress, progress in reversing global warming and progress in stopping the pandemic. Max Boot’s fear and Peter Meijer’s fear threaten democracy.