At the risk of sweeping generalization, politicians want you to be afraid — that’s how they keep their jobs...as the only ones who can protect us from all the bad things out there.
For decades now, the whole country has been arguing over what to be afraid of…the most. It seems to have reached an unprecedented level in this one due to both the ubiquity of social media and the shamelessness of those leading the way.
Routine rhetoric like "they're coming for YOU..." underscores the point, which now includes the weaponization of patriotism (a favorite of fear-mongers). They stoke this dynamic when they mostly are just purveyors of fear, especially when cultivated through their sowing of chaos thru cult of personality.
Many (politicians) really don't respect the average citizen, even as they smile like a Cheshire cat and say "I want your vote". And, maybe they have some good reasons in light of what appears to be some of our collective aptitudes, given the bowels of our consumerism (which they also promote by sucking-up to our money). They probably know more than we give them credit for about our short, national attention-span and how easily and quickly we swing between public narratives.
We could do SO much better, though, if things were truly about service rather than power.
Which may beg a question about the locus of power — do politicians enable power in the people or do people enable power in politicians? Something right now seems a bit complicit in the mutually-inclusive dynamic of the whole arrangement. We seem to be unwittingly willing to use each other (some are not so unwitting about it, as it is pure calculation and the masses are falling right into line).
At some point the stench will be high enough that we will recognize things for what they have become and demand leadership more than partisanship. We clearly aren't there yet, but there a signs the tide may be turning — as this system will lock in on anything that's hot and just as quickly spit it out when it's not.
...finish here.
