Scary Elections

The election on November 2 and Halloween belong together. In both cases we are indulging in a collective fear of fear itself. In neither case are we dealing with reality. It is a time when we search for some hobgoblin to blame for fears we don't understand. It's not that there are not scary things out there. There are. The world remains a dangerous place; we are in the midst of a great recession; and our financial sector is awash in greed. The election, however, is a façade of Halloween-like fears.

Republicans and Democrats share a bipartisan responsibility for conjuring up the insubstantial apparitions and ghost-ridden fears we are wallowing in. Both parties are using fear to get us to vote their way. Instead they have generated an unprecedented anti-incumbent atmosphere.

Both parties face a base constituency that is out trick-or-treating. "Rid us of our fear," they say "or we will play some nasty trick on you come November 2." Republican politicians are threatened from the right by the costumed characters who fear deficit spending, taxes and the threat of a socialist takeover. The Democrats are threatened from the left by those who want universal health care now, a bigger stimulus package and for Obama to be more of the liberal that they imagined.

The established parties cannot buy off their constituents with any sweetened treats because the fears the party officials have implanted are not based on reality. The Republican base is in fearful panic of imaginary curses: deficit spending which actually does not threaten the dollar, taxes which are the lowest in years, and the fantasy of a socialist takeover which is a little more than a resurrected Cold War bogeyman.

Conservatives have no complaint. Big, new government programs exist only in self-created nightmares. Our health system will remain privately owned and operated. The auto industry and financial sector bailouts are not socialism. They are the answer to a capitalist prayer, particularly since they are generating profits like never before.

Republicans proposed nothing in the most recent congressional session because there is nothing they could propose that would respond to the demands they are facing. They are going to have their windows soaped this Halloween.

The Democrats are in the same frustrating situation. President Obama may not have closed Guantánamo Bay or repealed "don't ask don't tell" but he has accomplished far more than many want to admit.

The Democratic base is not satisfied. But they should know that health-care reform, like any major new initiative, must start with baby steps. The health care act removed benefit limits, covered pre-existing conditions and cut drug costs. Much of the rest will be phased in slowly. That is the best anyone can expect. Similarly, the stimulus package was mostly tax cuts and the increased spending is still being implemented. Unfortunately, further stimulus is hostage to the electorate's own unwarranted fears for the dollar.

Almost un-noted, Obama is also addressing the basis for much of our antigovernment sentiment. We mis-trust government not because it is big or because it taxes us but because of what corrupt politicians do behind closed doors to serve the interests of lobbyists instead of working Americans.

That corruption is very real but the president made a start. He put controls on lobbyists, pushing them off the many advisory committees that provide input to our federal agencies. He curbed federal secrecy with a Federal Declassification Center, discouraged overclassification and denied permanent secrecy to anything.

There is no way the president can turn around any faster the political debacle of the previous eight years. But just the same, the Democrats are going to have the air let out of their tires.

For the Republicans, getting tricked means that they will be pushed even further to the right than they were in the primaries where they ended up with some unelectable tea party or third-party candidates. For the Democrats it means that the core constituencies will summon up the feared "enthusiasm gap" and stay home election day, rewarding the Republicans who survived the primaries.

Obsessed with imaginary fears of witches, migrants and gays, we are neglecting the real threats to our future. We are wasting the work of generations by fighting dumb wars, discarding our workforce and rewarding financiers instead of engineers and workers.

Stephen Colbert, the Comedy Channel's fake right-wing wacko, is right to mock us with his rally to "Keep Fear Alive."