The Great American Fear
When did America become so fearful?
Yesterday was the South Carolina Republican debate and if there is one way to describe the debate, I would describe it as entertaining. Witnessing adult men with years of experience and knowledge assault each other on a national podium in a manner equivalent to teenagers, as they position themselves for the office of President is very comical, and thus entertaining.
Is it not comedy when the greatest topics of discussion for Presidential candidates is about who has the right to marry, who has the right to carry assault rifles, who has the right to healthcare, and how are we going to stop people suffering from war and famine from entering the country.
Between all of this, the candidates also pummeled each other over who will flex their American muscle the most to fix problems for the rest of the world. That’s right, the guys debating topics that have been solved by the current government, also want to fix the problems being faced by rest of the world. That was the closing act and man was I rolling on the floor crying in a fit of laughter. These guys are good and I hope that they headline a Netflix comedy special one day.
I watched the debate keenly, listening to each candidate’s points. Over the past few months I have been following the election, listening to candidate speeches, reading the plethora of articles from left and right wing media, but I had never watched a debate in full. I thought that maybe this debate would be worth watching, as the candidates should have matured from when they started. But wait, if you listen to these men debate, all you can think is, “did I miss the memo, did America die? Make America great again, kill all enemies of America, and build walls to keep people out? The rhetoric sounds similar to the propaganda in countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The points these men expressed and the anger with which they lobbed accusations at each other only made me think of the many preachers I had witnessed growing up. I am not devout in any religion, but theology is something I study passionately, from the scriptures of the bible, to the Quran and a couple others. I have listened to Jehovah witness at my door as they told me about how the world had changed and lost its purity. I listened to dawah from Muslims, highly educated in their teachings of the Quran, as well as the message from equivalently educated Hindus and Christians. They all have excellent points on morals, but they also have an underlying message, and it’s the same message that lay as the undercurrent below the arguments of the candidates on stage. “The way we used to be was greatest, and we must return to that if we wish to achieve greatness in the future, or we will also suffer.”
And this is where all our angst and confusion lies. This is why America, and the rest of the world has become stagnated. And as I am about to reveal, this is not an issue that has stagnated just the right wing, but also caused the left wing to push unfounded ideas as well. It is the fear of change.
America is a great country. It has been and still today is the country that people around the world look at and say “one day, I will go to America.” Why do they say this statement? Viewed from the eyes of immigrants, America of the 20th century was progress. It shed the shackles of tradition and separated law from religion to give all people rights to liberty and freedom. It didn’t matter what the color of your skin was, what your gender was, in America you could find the means to get educated and make something for yourself. It definitely wasn’t easy, but the opportunity existed.
On top of civil progression, America didn’t fear science. It developed medicine, computers, spaceships and buildings unlike anything ever seen. Essentially creating miracles through ingenuity, innovation and policies that allowed for this type of progression. Each development had its unattended consequences but as a whole it pushed society in a direction where people for the first time in human history did not fear tyranny, or plague, and had the capability to rise from nothing. This is what everyone outside of America saw, and the Americans knew that. The leaders knew the precedence there decisions set for the world, they knew that being pioneer was a sacrifice, but that it pushed the rest of the world forward as well. And like I said, there is always unattended consequences, some medicines turned out to cause harm, some technologies polluted the environment, but these things didn’t scare us, because there was a vision of making the quality of life better than could ever have been imagined.
But things began to change. Some of the mistakes took a bigger toll then expected, and fear began to rise. And that is where we are today. We justify everything because of fear. The environment changing, race diversity growing, people looking beyond religion for answers. Everyone has an agenda of fear. And with fear of the unknown, we return to the path of utilizing religion to dictate policy. The separation of church and state shrinks, and though this could potentially be a good thing, history tells us that it isn’t.
Those who don’t know history will repeat it. We have all heard that phrase at some point in our life and it’s meaning is simple. How can the United States expect progress if it is tries to emulate the past? America is what it is because it learned from its mistakes and improved its ideas. If the candidates truly believe they can repeal much of Obamas policies, they will be back at the square Obama moved from, and they will have to fight through all the same debates to get back, most likely to the same square.
And this brings us to the type of debate the presidential candidates should have been having. John Kasich actually hinted at this, when he said that it time for the candidates to act like responsible and intelligent adults. We want to hear leaders who argue about the best ways to progress society. The questions that should have been asked at that debate are “How do we provide better food and nutrition to everyone”, “How do we distribute power and energy better”, “How can America utilize is diverse population and integrate citizens better?”, and finally “How can the US reduce violence in the world while minimizing the violence it creates”.
The same is true for the opposite side of the debate. The democrats have pushed ideas in the name of progress, which cannot be achieved because the foundation for them has never been created. If wealth is going to be distributed, and college made free, then the majority need to be convinced that this path is right. Force-feeding progress to people when they don’t understand how it will be achieved is a very good way to breed more fear and give leverage to those who currently manipulate it.
There are only a few months left till the election, and it will be a defining election. If the people of the United States expect to be leaders in the world of tomorrow, then open your minds, demonstrate through act, and make it clear to the leaders that your vote cannot be won by appealing to fear.
