The science fiction classic Dune finds the main character invoking the “Litany Against Fear” as he endured a test of will. The Litany, which reads:

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

speaks of the thought-poisoning effect of fear, and how the only escape from fear is found in facing it. In this idea we find the conflict between our biologically encoded instincts and the rational mind that is capable of overriding those instincts. Unfortunately, in real life the latter wins far too infrequently, and fear is more likely to guide our thoughts, attitudes, expectations and actions than the rationality of the super-ego.

This is especially true in politics. Fear is, for many people, a core motivator. Many other people know this, and use fear to advance their ideas, their policies, and themselves.

If politics were small potatoes, if the government was a relatively insignificant part of our lives and served only to provide certain basic services, this leveraging of fear wouldn’t be that big a deal. But, since government is a leviathan, since one-third of our gross domestic product is government, and since government touches just about every aspect of our lives, this is a big deal.

Millions of Americans, both of the Left and the Right, make demands of the government that are driven by fear.

Fear that others might do things they don’t like lead to laws that restrict others’ behaviors and regulations about, well, everything. Fear that they aren’t responsible enough, or that other people aren’t responsible enough, lead to the nanny state and to what they call “safety nets,” which are a combination of forced charity and outright theft from others.

Fear that the “other team” will do Bad Things should it gain power. Fear, against mountains of evidence to the contrary, that their lives will be destroyed should the “other team” win.

Fear that the free market will produce results they don’t like. Fear that, without some beneficent overlords watching like a hawk, the evil people will run amok.

Fear of secret conspiracies amongst powerful people they don’t like perpetuates empty scare stories about the Illuminati, star chambers, the New World Order, the Bilderberg meetings, and, most recently, a secret Trump-Putin alliance.

Fear of people from other lands taking “their” jobs. Fear that, despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, one person’s gain is always another person’s loss in economic matters.

Fear that people might have opinions that are different from their own. Fear that their eyes and ears might see or hear those different opinions. Fear that people might agree with those other opinions should they get a chance to see or hear them.

Fear that the bad people in faraway lands pose a bigger threat to their daily lives than countless other more legitimate but more mundane concerns.

Fear that big companies have secret plans to poison them and despoil the planet.

Fear that, should the “other team” win, death squads, internment camps, and black helicopters will suddenly descend upon the landscape to “collect” them or the people they like.

News organizations, especially at the local level, routinely play the fear card. “If it bleeds, it leads” is a time-tested mantra for the press. Our primal instincts, those that kept us alive over hundreds of millennia, generate our first reactions to such provocations, and even when we’ve grown accustomed and hardened to the hype, we still feel an initial gut-shock when we hear “Is your tap water killing you? Story at 11!”

We have a natural fear of that which we do not know or understand. In this we find the persistent fear of GMO foods, of nuclear power, of vaccines, etc. Knowledge and understanding easily defeat such fears, but many would rather find spurious validations for them than admit their fears spawned out of ignorance. There is a shame associated with fear, and it, too, is rooted in our DNA.

Bravery and fearlessness have, throughout human history, been extolled as the highest of virtues. Humans have erected monuments and statues to honor the greatest exemplars of these virtues. Instinctively, we want to follow and emulate such people, because, instinctively, our own fears embarrass us. This embarrassment leads us to do irrational things: justify those fears even when the evidence doesn’t support them, and relabel those fears as something else, something more “positive” and better fitting in with the idea of bravery and assertiveness.

The former is how we end up with junk science, alternative news sources and the perpetuation of disproven ideas.

The latter is how we end up with big government. Much that is born of fear is rebranded as “compassion,” as “the social contract,” as “safety nets,” as “fairness,” and as “social justice.” Fear breeds “safe spaces,” prompts the taking by force from some to give to others, prompts regulation of behaviors, prompts interference with voluntary exchanges and contracts, restrictions on liberty and property, and leads to all sorts of other meddling in others’ lives. Fear also draws us into involvement in other parts of the world, into foreign wars, and into foreign politics, and it’s justified by a rebranding via the language of “national interests.”

So much of this is essentially fear of bogey men under the bed. Those are the fears of children, and the desire of parents to take away those fears. These are not the actions and attitudes of adults. These are a child’s expectation that a parent will make everything safe and happy and all right with the world. People of sound mind should not look to others (i.e. the government) to rearrange the world to suit them.

There are real and legitimate things to fear. Someone else living his life in a fashion you don’t approve of is not one of them. Nor are the countless millions of free and voluntary interactions between other people that take place every day without your involvement or awareness. Nor are the countless unsupported “scares” that people perpetually propagate around the news and social media.

The real fear should be of that which can affect your life. The real fear should be of those who would, by force, impose their will upon you. Yes, that includes criminals. Yes, that includes some Bad People in foreign lands. But, the former is for most of us a minor and manageable concern, and the latter is, when rationally considered, even more minor. The far bigger threat comes from the lawmakers and rules makers that, ironically, our fears have empowered. As a former President once observed:

“The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”

• About the Author

About Peter Venetoklis

I am twice-retired, a former rocket engineer and a former small business owner. At the very least, it makes for interesting party conversation. I'm also a life-long libertarian, I engage in an expanse of entertainments, and I squabble for sport.

Nowadays, I spend a good bit of my time arguing politics and editing this website.

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