Karl Rove recently pointed out in a Wall Street Journal Op-ed that President Obama promised during the campaign to end the “politics of fear and cynicism,” but that the President expressly played the "fear" card at a July news conference:
Reform is about every American who has ever feared that they may lose their coverage, or lose their job. . . . If we do not reform health care, your premiums and out-of-pocket costs will continue to skyrocket. If we do not act, 14,000 Americans will continue to lose their health insurance every single day. These are the consequences of inaction.
The very dangerous false premise that unites both parties in denouncing the politics of fear is that nothing politicians do should scare us. If this were true, we would not need the protections of Federalism, the independent judiciary (although sometimes we need to be protected from it too), and the checks-and-balances among the theoretically co-equal branches of government.
The ultimate standard to which we should hold our politicians is truth--truth upheld as such independent of the emotive response it instigates.
Much of what is true is cause for legitimate fear. And fear in and of itself is a healthy motivator, if the fear is based in reality. The Bible, for example, teaches that "fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" (Prov. 1:7).
We should be indifferent to whether someone is engaging is in the politics of fear, if that fear is grounded in truth.
EG
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