For several years I have pondered how the Bush administration managed to hoodwink so many people into believing that it would be a good idea to go to war in Iraq. Of course, their main tool was fear. Fear that the smoking gun would become a mushroom cloud. But this is America, home of the brave. Why did so many pundits and politicians fall for this deception? Much has been blamed on the media and there certainly is culpability there. But why did the message of fear resonate with so many Americans? Why did fear sell newspapers, magazines and TV shows? Certainly 9/11 was a scary event, but instead of responding to it with rational efforts to combat terrorism in Afghanistan, our nation was led into war with a sovereign state that had nothing to do with 9/11. We know that the Bush administration had come into office with a plan for this war, but how did they manage to distort the events of 9/11 into a rallying cry for the war they so dearly desired? And why did some people resist the fear mongering and oppose the war? Why did part of our country see the evidence and reject Bush’s claims, while others preferred to be led down the path to war with Iraq?
At the risk of over simplifying Professor Lakoff’s theory about cognitive frames, it had everything to do with conservative ideology. The conservative worldview is much more receptive to fear. In fact, it is a mindset based on fear. If you accept the conservative view that America is a place where it’s every man for himself, then America becomes a scary place. If you believe the conservative view that all good things come from Daddy who is always right and must be obeyed, then the consequences of questioning authority become frightening. Daddy will punish, just as Bush did when he called his opponents traitors. If you see other segments of society, such as gays or African-Americans or feminists, as out to destroy your way of life you will live under threat all the time. The conservative frame of society is a very scary place to live.
Conservatives see attacks coming from all sides and have little source of comfort. If you are a conservative you cannot expect help from your government because you believe your government is incompetent to help, and the Bush administration has done its best to reinforce this belief. You cannot seek help from your fellow American because he’s out for himself and you are all competing for the same piece of the pie. You hate unions so you won’t get any help there. In your mind, universal health care is socialized medicine, so there’s no help available for you or your family in time of crisis there. You believe that people should carry a concealed weapon to protect themselves because the police can’t get the job done. How terrifying is that? How lonely and alone it feels.
For the past thirty years our society has been drifting more and more to the right and the conservative ideology. As more Americans have taken up the right-wing world view, more Americans have become afraid. We are no longer the home of the brave. So it is that Bush and his fellow conservatives found fertile ground for their frightening propaganda that led us to Iraq. The conservatism that had been growing since the Reagan administration now dominated American thought and we were ready to lash out in fear. As we know, fear is a very bad basis for decision making. We seldom make good judgments when we are afraid. The proof of this lies in the quagmire that is Iraq today.
This week, we have seen examples of conservative fear at the CPAC convention in Washington. The most conservative members of the Republican Party all gathered there to share their political plans for 2008. They are the most strident members of the party. They scream the loudest, hold the most intractable views, are the most intolerant and demanding, and clearly have the highest level of adrenalin. They are the scared people. Their world view is so based on fear that they can only respond to events with the basest instincts. It is a world of good and evil and anyone who tries to discern shades of grey is a flip-flopper. It is fascinating to watch them attack Senator McCain because he takes a more moderate view than they do. Their anger is magnificent to behold. It is the sort of anger that can only be born from fear.
But at last we are seeing signs that the rest of America is tired of being afraid. Americans are finally recognizing conservatism for the bankrupt ideology it is. The soccer moms are figuring out that they and their children are not safer if they destroy the country in the process of enriching the conservative corporatists. People are turning out in record numbers at the polls, responding to the candidates who offer hope, not fear. People are open to the message that they must summon the courage to crawl out of their bunkers and do something to revive America. We must stop focusing on lonely survival and share the burden with our fellow citizens. By accepting that we are all in this together we are giving each other courage and rejecting conservative fear. Perhaps once again America can become the home of the brave, where we all have the strength to do what’s fair and right because we know we’ve got each other’s backs. Perhaps we will never regain the pinnacle we once held in the world, but we can at least stop being the scared people.