Fear isn't an answer

You don't have to be religious to understand the statement: "Perfect love casts out fear."

Now, you can find all sorts of problems with that, like, for instance, what in the world is perfect love? I'm not sure I've ever seen it. What we all have seen is someone who, when they found what they thought was something like love, cast aside not only their fear, but most of their good sense as well. (I think that's why they call it "falling in love." It's like other stuff you can fall into.)

Put all that stuff aside for a minute. I just want to say that, from my perspective, the reverse of the perfect love statement is even more obviously true: pure fear casts out love.

Maslow's famous hierarchy of needs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs) puts survival needs at the bottom of the pyramid and the more esoteric needs, like love and fulfillment, at the top, which means when you're afraid there's not much energy left for thinking charitably.

I mention all this because a major chuck of the political world right now is busy selling fear. That's always present somewhere in politics. It's a strategy embraced most frequently on the extreme left and extreme right. But right now, a major swath of our political leadership is openly affirming that approach. And "be afraid, be very afraid" sells well when you've just lost your job or savings or health coverage. Ironically, it's right now, when our fears our highest that we need the humane values--a lot of faith, love and understanding-- the very most.