Stop the Fear-Mongering

Scare tactics. If they didn't work, people wouldn't use them. If somebody can't sweet-talk another person into letting them have their way, usually scare tactics are sure to follow. At times the accuracy behind scare tactics are true, but often times they're not, and that's usually the reason scare tactics are employed in the first place. Bosses often use fear-mongering, to get their employees to work longer on more difficult projects. Abusive parents can use fear-mongering to keep their children silent about the horrors they face day-by-day. Criminals use fear-mongering to silence witnesses. Dirty cops do the same. 

But when it comes to our Government, we just somehow think that they would never use fear-mongering, to achieve their own agendas and schemes. For some reason, we think that whatever a Government official tells us is the truth, and that we need to base our actions on whatever that official said. It seldom crosses people's minds that maybe, just maybe the Government has used, and is using, the tool of fear-mongering to get its way. I mean let's face it: The Government hasn't necessarily been the shining beacon of morality as of late... or actually, as of never. Do we really think it's unlike Government to use scare tactics on the American people in order to push its pet projects and plots?

Do we trust a Government that has near sold our economy to the Chinese, among other nations? Do we trust a Government who jailed two Border Patrol agents for simply doing their jobs, and shooting an armed and dangerous illegal dope-runner, who was running across our border to do work for his drug cartel? Do we trust our Government even after the Blagojevich incident? How could the Illinois Governor have gotten away with such a scandal for soooo long a time, if the Government is supposed to be this squeaky clean entity? 

I wanna tell you a story. And this story, I mean, it just... it screams what Government is all about. In the latter part of the Cold War, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. They basically wanted to take over the country, so that they could have the oil and indoctrinate the people into Communistic ideology. Our Government didn't like that too much. They were afraid that the Soviets would somehow build this "Super Empire" by conquering so many places, and that we would then be forced to enter a third World War. The Government also didn't like the idea of Communist Russia getting all the oil. So do you wanna know what we did? ("we" as in the Government) We started funding a rag-tag Afghan band of guerilla fighters, who tried to fight the Russians out of their country. We gave this group money, weapons, whatever they wanted-- we gave it to them. Because of that, this guerilla army was successful in driving out the Soviets, which greatly pleased our Government. Do you wanna know who that guerilla army was? The Taliban.

That's right. Our Government, scared of one enemy, funded and armed another. And here's the kicker: "We" knew the Taliban was an extremist group! Yes, our Government knew and willingly supported a terrorist group, in order to defeat the Russians. Are we worried about the Russians today? Or are we more worried about the Taliban? Was it the Russians who caused 9/11? Or was it groups like the Taliban? Of course these questions almost answer themselves. Now after hearing that story, do you still trust the Government every time it tells you something? A Government who once funded the terrorists we're now fighting, just to satisfy its own self interest? Or do you think it's possible our Government could be involved, in at least a little fear-mongering here-and-there to scare the people into letting them have their way with things? Now why am I bringing all this up? Why am I trying to convince you of how dirty the Government is? I'll tell you why. Because two situations come to mind, where our President and past President have used fear-mongering on the American people, to make big changes to the way our nation has been run. 

Past President first: George Bush used the valid fear of terrorism to push a very invalid, and very unconstitutional plan, called The Patriot Act. The Patriot Act being that the Government can wiretap you for any reason it sees fit, without your knowledge or even a warrant hardly. This act, while perhaps created under good intention, underminded our Fourth Amendment rights under the Constitution. Our right to privacy. The act was created to find and locate domestic terrorists. But the act did not exempt American citizens from such wiretaps, searches, etc. And with a big Government that is clearly corrupt and rotten, do you think this Patriot Act would be used to find terrorists? Or do you think it could be used by a political candidate already in Government, to spy on another political candidate who wishes to unseat him? This Patriot Act can and eventually will be used to rig elections, by a corrupt politician who has the power to use it. This violates everything the Founding Fathers stood for.

How did the American people just accept it as alright suddenly? Bush fear-mongered! He said this, when pleading on the act's behalf, "The Patriot Act closed dangerous gaps in America's law enforcement and intelligence capabilities. Gaps that terrorists exploited when they attacked us." In other words, if the PA isn't passed, we're going to be just as vulnerable as we were before 9/11, there'll be bombings everywhere, and well... we'll be terrorized. That was the fear-mongering message-- If the "Patriot Act" isn't passed, we're all doomed. The fear-mongering worked and we lost our Fourth Amendment rights.

It totally disregarded the advice of Benjamin Franklin: "They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security."

Concerning our current President, Barack Obama, he has done something a little worse. His presidential campaign was based on Hope & Change. Yet as soon as he came into office, our "Hope and Change" President has become a "We need to act now or else" President, just like the one before him. From hope to fear-mongering. Quite a leap. His $8 billion-dollar stimulus package especially comes to mind. When Obama tried desperately to pass the stimulus, which in reality was full of special interest pork, he said this "Our economy is very sick. The situation is getting worse, so we have to act quick and we have to act now." The big Government translation of that is-- We're headed for medieval-times depression stuff, if you don't pass my bill. Not only should you pass my bill, you gotta do it quick... or else the economy will go to hell in a hand-basket.

The fear-mongering worked yet again, the stimulus was passed, and in so doing, we have taken a giant step against our Free-Market Capitalistic economy our Founders believed in. Now that we're nearing the end of my article, I want you to ask yourself again, and I mean seriously ask yourself, "Do I trust the Government? Do I trust a massive entity like this, who has done all of these things? Or would I rather trust in God and myself more?" I wrote this article as a warning: The Government will always use scare tactics to take away your essential and basic freedoms. It's a convenient way for you to lose those rights willingly. Don't fall for the lies and propaganda of our Government, but instead cling to the words of our Founders and the principles they stood for.