Retaking the High Ground: Overcoming Fear

“We have entered an age of fear. Insecurity is once again an active ingredient of political life in Western democracies.”

-Tony Judt, Ill Fares the Land

Recapturing the high ground in this debate about the value of government will require four actions:

- Creating a new moral narrative that appeals to our best, rather than our worst, instincts

- Addressing the fears and insecurities caused by a rapidly changing world

- Striking at the myths about the success of unregulated markets

- Demonstrating the role government can successfully play in the world that will be our future

In a previous post, we discussed creation of a new moral narrative. In this post, we will present some ideas on addressing the fears caused by a rapidly changing world and why the Left is best positioned to do so.

After Judt lists several of the fears that affect us - terrorism, the uncontrollable speed of change, loss of employment, losing ground to others, losing control of our daily lives- he concludes that perhaps above all is the fear “that those in authority have also lost control… to forces beyond their reach.”

Besides the more familiar fears (immigrants, terrorism, job loss, crime), “the true sources of insecurity in decades to come will be those that most of us cannot define: …climate change…, imperial decline and its attendant ‘small wars’, …impotence in the face of distant upheavals with disruptive local impact.” [Judt]

Until these fears are addressed, they are fertile ground for demagogues to sow the seeds of confusion and division. Prejudice and intolerance can be readily stirred up. The scape-goating of races, nationalities, religion, and political beliefs has been used in the past to great effect by demagogues and, to even greater effect, by some well-known 20^th century dictators.

Progressives have much to offer to relieve these fears. When faced with the Great Depression, it was the social programs of the New Deal that led the US out of the Depression. The Great Society programs extended the social safety net in the 60‘s and beyond. This year, we have made modest steps forward in re-regulating the financial markets and in increasing access to medical care. To destroy this (privatization or diminishment of social security, cuts in Medicare and Medicaid, overturning recently enacted health care and financial reforms) would increase our insecurity. It is the Right that would demolish the social safety net and increase our insecurity. People really need to know this - economic insecurity will increase if the Right have their way - increase for all but the richest.

We have faced severe economic uncertainty in the past and have resolved it - let’s not forget all the lessons of history.

The world is changing rapidly and progressives are in the best position to deal with that change. To put it bluntly, would you rather trust a politician who doesn’t believe a government can do anything (“make government so small you can drown it in a bathtub”) or one that provides a vision for government‘s role in managing the future? Would you rather believe a global-warming denier or someone with a plan to do something about it?

There’s a darker side to the fears and insecurities. If the fears come from prejudice and intolerance, they will be very difficult to overcome.  Demagogues will never stop using divisive tactics to gain political advantage. It is easier to divide than it is to unite.

Creating a different political dialogue based on a new moral narrative (discussed in a previous post) is one way to affect this. Also, in time, the youth of today may reject the rantings of fear and prejudice. But this rejection needs to be channeled into political activism and apathy must be avoided. Governments will continue to play the major role in shaping the future - if you don’t vote, you will fail to have your voice heard as to what that future should be.

I‘ll close with a couple of quotes from Ill Fares the Land.

“…the first task is to remind ourselves of the achievements of the twentieth century, along with the likely consequences of a heedless rush to dismantle them….”

“We take for granted the institutions, legislation, services and rights that we have inherited from the great age of 20^th century reform. It is time to remind ourselves that all of these were utterly inconceivable.. [in]…1929. We are the fortunate beneficiaries of a transformation whose scale and impact was unprecedented. There is much to defend.”

- Tony Judt, Ill Fares the Land