The Politics of Fear: 75 Years After FDR

[marmar]

from New American Media:




The Politics of Fear: 75 Years After FDR

New America Media, Commentary, Ron Manuto and Sean Patrick O’Rourke, Posted: Mar 06, 2008

Editor's Note: The anniversary of FDR's first inaugural address reminds us how far we have waded as a nation into the politics of fear, write the commentators.

Seventy-five years ago this week, Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered his first inaugural address.

Scholars consider it one of the best speeches of the 20th century. They note its eloquent phrasing, powerful imagery and forceful delivery. But if you ask those who heard it why they love FDR, they invariably speak about the way he calmed their fears and put them to work – how he showed us that “nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror” only paralyzes constructive thought and action – because “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

How different from the rhetoric of our current leaders.

Few political leaders have resorted to the use of fear as have President Bush and Vice President Cheney. After Sept. 11, fear became the political ticket. They punched it again and again to achieve the administration’s domestic and foreign policy goals.

This is why Roosevelt’s inaugural is so important. It is an example of presidential leadership that asks us to face our fears, an alternative to the cynical exploitation of a vulnerable public.

We lived then, too, in dangerous times. The Great Depression hit its lowest point in March 1933. The economy had stalled. More than a quarter of the workforce was unemployed. Nearly two million were homeless. Fascist movements in Germany, Portugal, Spain and Italy threatened us, as did imperialist Japan and the specter of communism.

Today the danger is terrorism and “rogue” nations. They are serious dangers. But how does a free people confront such dangers and the fear they breed? ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=e53499ceb5104a4ea6a34f85491ddea7