I despair hoping that someday our country might actually have a majority of people who have a clue as to what’s going on in the world, maybe have a smidgeon of scientific acumen, can read, actually DO read, and don’t assume that just cause the preacher man says it’s so, it’s so.

“Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.” – Bertrand Russell

Oh, we try to face up to the irrationality embedded in fear, push it out of our thoughts, label it, even laugh at it.

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” – Franklin Roosevelt

Yet fear is insidious and persistent. It’s promoted and used by the fear-filled, by shrewd leaders.

“Democratic man, . . . is quite unable to think of himself as a free individual; he must belong to a group, or shake with fear and loneliness – and the group, of course, must have its leadersâ€Â? — Henry Louis Mencken

Born in the dark, hungry and aggressively needy, fear overwhelms many with disastrous results.

“Fear has been the original parent of superstition, and every new calamity urges trembling mortals to deprecate the wrath of their invisible enemies.” – Edward Gibbon

And when fear leads disaster hides in the shadows.

“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” – Yoda

Fear truncates our lives, fear soils our spirit, fear rejects hope, fear stifles and freezes.

“Jonathan Seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that a gull’s life is so short, and with these gone from his thought, he lived a long fine life indeed.” — Richard Bach

Unfortunately, Americans don’t react well to fear.

“In dim eclipse disastrous twilight sheds / On half the nations, and with fear of change / Perplexes monarchs.� John Milton

“You have to change your point of view from one of fear to one of focus.â€Â?– Christen Brown

We’ll see. Vote on November 7. Vote for change. Vote out fear.

Both sides do it because it works so well. It’s about like herding sheep. Much of the current political debate centers on using the same tactics. Present only part of the truth and spin it to make your point. Then claim everything else that doesn’t support your position is false or irrelevant. You see this attitude in many blogs. Of couse, since this is a “centrist blog”, you’ll never experience it here. Both liberal and conservative viewpoints are examined fairly evenly.

Does anybody think we might be able to do both? Hmmm…

Simply put, the ad is ridiculously desperate.

Me – Terrorist flying planes in building, suitcase nuclear weapons, anthrax, exc.

JG – the Bush Administration.

The Demorats should be afraid, though, afraid that their numbers peeked to early. If they had a brain in their head, they should have waited to release the Folley thing a little closer to the election – but we can never blame an abundance of self-discipline on them.

If Osama manages to attack us again then it will be impossible to overlook the fact that the Bush administration refused to kill Osama bin Laden at Tora Bora.

Why did they refuse to block the escape route? Because to kill Osama at Tora Bora would have made an Iraq invasion politically impossible.

I just don’t think fear can work this time if the Democrats will hit back. Karl Rove has made a career of taking his opponents strengths and turning them into liabilities…and its time someone return the favor. His house of cards is ready to fall.

See a tongue-in-cheek visual of Karl and the boys singing some of their favorite “Church & State” hymns…here:

http://www.thoughttheater.com

Republicans can’t run on much other than their tougher stance on national security. No surprise they’re going to push it to the edge. But those kinds of ads usually just come off silly and heavy handed, so we’ll see if they do any good.

Thanks for the reminder to vote on November 7! The next time the terrorists try to attack America, I sure don’t want you incompetent hacks in charge.

Love and Kisses,

A New Yorker