Few people are better at whipping up hysteria than Republicans. For my entire lifetime, it's been Republicans promising Dire Consequences lurking right around the corner. Their stock in trade, at least since the 1950s, has been fear. Yes, there's loathing too, but the primary focus of Republican energy is fear. Fear of Communism. Fear of the Devil's music. Fear of terrorists. Fear of interracial marriage. Fear of GAY marriage. Fear of black people. Fear of brown people. Fear of women. Fear of children. Fear of job loss. Fear of church authority figures. Fear of hellfire. Fear of God.
Republicans champion fear, and then do whatever they can to create the conditions under which that fear can grow and thrive, because at least up until this past election, fearmongering had shown to be very effective for them.
As for me, I'm done with fear, at least of the types of ginned-up fake fear that are enumerated above. I don't have all that many years remaining to me--my life is probably better than 2/3 over--but I'm going to live it fearlessly. I vow to awaken each day, not scared of trumped-up "threats," but rather simply be full of the possible.
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