With respect to Francis Scott Key, the lyrics to his famous “Star Spangled Banner” may be a little out-dated and irrelevant.
No longer can America refer to itself as the “land of the free and the home of the brave.”
And we have those on the far right of the political spectrum to thank for our newfound identity. Fear is the driving force behind America today.
When FDR tried to comfort Americans by saying we had nothing to fear but fear itself, at least we were in the midst of World War II and still reeling from an attack on Pearl Harbor. But FDR and fellow politicians realized that a nation living in perpetual fear couldn’t confront the huge challenge it was facing.
However, as we’ve learned during our history, fear can be a powerful political weapon. Sen. Joseph McCarthy built a career out of the “big Red scare” of the 1940s and 1950s. The politics of fear never disappears. All that changes is what we are supposed to be fearful of.
If we adopt a national health care plan it’s another means of killing granny. We fear the prospect of “socialism,” but we tell the government it better not touch Medicare and our farm subsidy payments.
Saving General Motors from collapse and keeping tens of thousands of people off the unemployment line is one step away from communism.
Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-Tex.) warns us about undocumented pregnant women crossing our border and having their babies here as part of a clever and elaborate plot to give them automatic U.S. citizenship.
Wait, it gets better. They will then take these babies with them to be raised as terrorists, only to return in the future as legitimate U.S. citizens able to roam anywhere they choose in the U.S. wreaking death and destruction.
And mosques in New York City, or anywhere else in the U.S. for that matter, are a training ground for terrorist thinking and anti-U.S. sentiment.
The far right continues to portray President Obama as a Muslim. He’s not even a U.S. citizen. ACORN threatens our democracy. A black USDA employee is discriminating against white farmers. And illegal immigrants are leaving a trail of murder and mayhem in the Arizona desert.
The facts don’t matter. The political right is in the business of manufacturing fear and, quite honestly, business is good.
At what point did we become the “home of the hide under my covers at night”? Granted, that’s a little more difficult to weave into the national anthem, but it offers a better description of what we’ve become.
What we’re seeing isn’t new. History has shown us that during tough economic times fear is the weapon of choice for those who are a) to blame for the problem, or b) have no solution to the problem.
There is no simple answer to illegal immigration. It’s much easier to spread fear about “anchor babies” and to fabricate stories about murders and rampant kidnappings in U.S. cities along the border with Mexico.
We have politicians who will stoke those fears, ignoring the fact that as long as the poor in Mexico have no hope for a better future in their country they will continue to look north.
The fear-mongers offer no credible solutions for a more secure border or how to deal with an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already living in the U.S.
We are in a serious financial crisis that was made possible by lack of regulatory oversight of our financial industry and ill-advised tax policies.
So what is the Republican answer? Be fearful of regulations on our financial industry and tax policies that would actually make the wealthy shoulder their share of the tax burden in this country.
And by the way, if the GOP’s plan doesn’t work (and it won’t) then we’ll just have to reduce Medicare funding and raise the retirement age to reduce Social Security payments.
If we don’t buy into these solutions, then it means we’re playing into the hands of a Muslim President who is leading us down the path of facism.
Conservative Republicans, and their friends in the Tea Party, are living in a fantasy world where tax cuts equal a balanced budget and where tolerance of gays, minorities and religious diversity isn’t allowed.
This is their future of America.
Oh, by the way, did we mention that if Democrats keep control of Congress following the mid-term election they will come after the first born son in every household in the United States?
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Rod Haxton can be reached at editor@screcord.com