Neil Gabler properly identifies fear as the primary political malaise of modern America (“Is America too old to be bold?” Opinion, July 23), but fear has always been an integral part of human response to changing events. I think Gabler’s analysis could have gone further.
In his inaugural address in 1933, in the midst of the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” He tried to mitigate serious fears with his fireside chats. FDR certainly had his critics and political opponents, but the media largely gave him the benefit of the doubt about his programs as government was seen as the last, best hope for the nation’s resurrection.
In the 1980s, messages that reviled or ridiculed government became more pronounced, many even emanating from the White House.
And with the subsequent rise of talk radio and cable television, media shattered into niches. Some outlets routinely and stridently promoted the notion of government as something to fear. Meanwhile, the mainstream media became obtuse in their efforts to appear neutral in the battles between the left and right.
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As a result, our political process has become even more controlled by big money, and the people continue to withdraw in fear, confusion, and ennui, all of which throws into doubt the idea, expressed by Abraham Lincoln, that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”