America's fear factor

"It is when power is wedded to chronic fear that it becomes formidable."

That observation, by author Eric Hoffer, is as relevant today as when he made it in 1954 in the early days of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Back then, politicians solidified their power by exploiting the fear of a nuclear holocaust that could erupt in the struggle between the two superpowers. With the Cold War behind us, today's politicians exploit the ghosts of 9-11 to exaggerate the danger from persons and rogue nations with nuclear ambitions.

Since 9-11, we have allowed those in power to embroil us in a game of "fear factor," which, unlike the TV program of the same name, presents real consequences.

We are saddled with an ineffective and overly expensive Department of Homeland Security. We have ceded civil rights with the pbuttage of the Patriot Act. We have tortured prisoners and illegally detained them in the name of security. We are squandering financial and human resources with our pursuit of militaristic victories in distant lands.

The politicians promised that all of these actions would make us safer and less fearful. Quite the contrary. The Homeland Security propaganda, the threat of government poking into our personal business, the denial of due process under the law and the military misadventures have enveloped us in a constant state of fear where we see persons lurking around every corner.

To counter any potential terrorism threats, we would have been far wiser to have focused our resources on a coordinated law-enforcement and counterintelligence effort with our allies around the world. Instead, our leaders chose to shed blood on foreign soil.

Not content with persons as adversaries, those same leaders are now sounding an alarm about some new foes -- North Korea and Iran -- and their attempts to develop nuclear weapons.

For those of us who lived during the Cold War, this latest attempt to whip up a fear frenzy should fall on deaf ears. We have always had "nukes" hanging over our heads, so why should we worry about another nation joining the exclusive club of eight nuclear nations?

What gives the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, Pakistan, India and Israel the right to tell another country that it can't defend itself with these weapons while at the same time building up their own stockpiles? Instead of threatening nations like North Korea and Iran for wanting to arm themselves in a like fashion, would it not make more sense to work toward the worldwide elimination of these weapons?

Instead, the United States is only reinforcing the climate of fear with a plan to invest in the development of a multibillion-dollar missile defense shield. Last month, Canada had the good sense to reject an offer from the United States to take part in that dubious development, which could lead to an international arms race.

Canada's decision was a step toward reversing the embellished sense of fear about security threats from Islamic extremists and villainous regimes armed with nuclear weapons.

For the sake of generations to come, those of us who are veterans of the Cold War would do well to follow the lead of Canada by rebuking any further attempts by our politicians to hype the fear factor.

The truth is that America will never be immune from threats to its security. There is not enough manpower or money to back up the false promises of politicians who guarantee us invulnerability.

If America is in any danger of collapsing, the responsibility for the downfall won't be claimed by a person or a nasty nation with nuclear plants. We have much more to fear from enemies of our own making -- obesity, infectious diseases, dwindling energy supplies, global warming, budgetary deficits, and overseas outsourcing of jobs.

These are real concerns over which we can exert some control. And for that reason, we need not even fear them.

As Marie Curie, the French chemist and physicist, so precisely said: "Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood."