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You didn't actually write anything of substance
Robert — (archived)

Downthread you made a snide comment about lack of responses. I'm in one of those busy times when I barely have time to read the Zone, let alone post. This'll have to be quick.

No substance? It's hard at this late date to deny that Republican rhetoric is focused obsessively on fearmongering; indeed Republican claims of legitimacy have come to rest solely on the assertion that we should all be terrified by terror and only Republicans can save us from the boogeyman. I reject that defeatist bullshit completely, and it's my belief that Republican fearmongering is undermining our national will and spirit, making us less able to respond effectively.

Psychology matters greatly. We saw what happened to the economy after 9/11, when fear drove it from a mild recession right into the toilet. It was the same in the Great Depression, when the entire country, if it had been a person, would have been diagnosed as clinically depressed. How well would the United States have fought World War II if FDR hadn't been able to bring the country out of its Depression funk? National morale is the crucial determinant of success or failure in war, and it's no wonder that Bush and the Republicans are failing in their war after spending five years trying to scare the shit out of Americans. Fearmongering can only go on so long without resolution, and as the Republicans sowed, so they now reap.

Get the leadership part right, and everything else follows. That's the answer to all your spurious demands that I personally solve all the world's problems, or you'll just dismiss what I say as "gas". Judging by the election of George W. Bush a lot of people have come to believe that anybody at all can be President, but in fact the point of representative democracy is to select the exceptional people who can solve all the world's problems. Republicans have had their shot, and wasted it on fearmongering and partisan politicization of terror. We know for sure that Republicans are a disaster in power, so it's obvious that Democrats can't help but do better.

I don't have to prove a thing. All I have to do is point to the Republican record. It's that simple.

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