An Atmosphere Steeped in Fear

Upon reading Paul Krugman’s piece, “Fearing Fear Itself,” (The New York Times, Monday, October 29,2007), I was struck by the synchronicity of the experiences people (labeled whistleblowers) in our workplaces are having with what Mr. Krugman describes is happening to our country in general, the danger of succumbing to “nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror.”

He points out that “fear-mongering” has been adopted by our current administration as a political strategy, (and I would suggest also an economic strategy), to benefit the members of this administration, their cohorts and those that support them. He further maintains that this fear continues as a chronic infection, easy to stir up again to acute, disabling levels as needed. I would add, whenever a diversion from embarrassing or problematic publicity is deemed necessary in order to protect those who work to further their goals out of the light.

The state of functioning of our government right now is in great disarray. Our systems are not working, as they should. Systems that we expect to automatically work because of our Constitution, laws and policies, that were supposed to support and protect us as we progressed through our duties and responsibilities, have been systematically jammed, fouled, or otherwise rendered powerless. Or at least the perception that has been promoted is that they are now powerless. And as long as we are willing to believe we are powerless, we shall be. Civil Service, Justice, Commerce, Defense, and Legislative Branch – all have been greatly derailed. Oversight, for the most part, is now D.O.A. For what purpose?

The stakes are high. If we follow the money we see literally billions and billions of dollars are at play here. Quicker than a sleight of hand trick, resources have been shifted, redirected and scuttled off, by what appears to be a growing web of privateers whose interests of personal gain intermixed with lust for power have produced the most corrupt threat to our country and our continued political, personal and economic freedom in history. It is an unholy confederation of politicos, moneyed industry magnates, select social/political influence groups and those who are willing to prostitute themselves in hopes of gaining affiliation with those groups, not to mention the promise of financial gain. Not everyone is involved; not everyone is corrupted, but of those who willingly or by coercion go down that path, most of course are not allowed access to the higher levels of power, but are used as an expendable temporary weapon, until the weapon is rendered no longer usable, then discarded. Those same people, planning the strategies, arranging the opportunities, and recruiting the field operatives, and then reaping the benefits, over the bodies of the fallen, increasingly see themselves as above our laws, including our Constitution. And those that are not corrupted? Alone, or at least in their own perception, isolated and alone, they succumb to fear or feel powerless to succeed in any effort to protest and prevail. Some feel despair, anger and depression.

I pondered upon the thought of a “permanent majority” when I heard about Karl Rove’s plan for achieving that for the Republican Party and as some of the tactics he was using to achieve that state became visible. There is much more at risk here than the long rub of two political philosophies and the hoped for eventual dominance of one over the other. S/he who holds the political keys, also may hold the control over the economic keys, or does now due to the meddling with the checks and balances, which were supposed to prevent such totalitarian control. More and more power and control both politically and economically have been drawn in and placed in the hands of a shrinking number of entities. Imagine our country with a permanent majority ruling class, a caste system of sorts, with justice and economic freedom for some, and no open doors for movement through the layers. I do not believe that the majority of either party really wants to see this in their future. But, this is the path I believe we are on now, unless we insist on changing course. And as our resources and environment further degrade, along with our lives, it will only become worse.

Think about the events and stories even of the past year or two regarding evidence of continued movement toward monopolization in industry (authorized step by step by those with oversight authority in our government), corruption in government and industry contracting, (in particular defense contracting), and hobbling of policies and laws long in place to prevent certain corrupt activities and goals from being accomplished with impunity. Think of the many voices attempting to speak out about: the war in the middle east, the attacks on and undermining of the middle class, jobs, contracting, graft and corruption, attacks on public education and the funding of access for all children to a public education, the lack of responsibility for active duty military and veterans, the health and welfare of our children, those who report wrongdoing in their workplace, those who question what our current administration is doing, the crippling of not only our Supreme Court and Justice system, but also most if not all of our law enforcement and oversight agencies, and on and on.

We discuss the gridlock that is happening with our inadequate and decaying transportation systems (prey to reallocation of resources away from use in this country for the public good); we don’t talk about the gridlock occurring to things even more critical to our lives and our futures and our children’s futures. Think of the voices who are being silenced as we speak through legal (or illegal) harassment, intimidation, loss of job and livelihood, threats, punitive actions both financial and social, alleged suicides and potentially worse.

Fear is immobilizing. Fear can cause people to stop thinking. Fear can cause paralysis, both physically, emotionally and intellectually…. if we let it. Mr. Krugman states that most Americans have now regained their balance. He is referring to the fear that comes when levels of stress are conditioned in to the population and triggered by colors on a chart and the fear that takes hold when the mainstream media plays over and over again the script of the day for what terrors are imminent. He is referring to the withdrawal that occurs when familiar places like shopping malls, football stadiums, restaurants, parks, airplanes and even grocery stores now seem populated by phantom evil around every corner and in every shadow.

I believe Mr. Krugman is right that most Americans are responding as the townspeople did in “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” and are no longer dependably running unthinkingly when asked. We’ve taken too much of it for too long, and the majority of us can see it for what it is. We’ve come to terms with our physical security risks, and are standing up to those who would hobble our daily lives and cut off our freedom at the knees.

We are not however dealing with the other threats to our freedom - political or economic. We are still terrorized in our workplaces as we try to ethically do our jobs, and when we question or challenge those in our governance structure or ask to have wrongdoing investigated, and justice done. When we out a wrongdoer, we immediately suffer the consequences of a firestorm for trying to hinder the wrongdoer and his or her probable accomplices in their growing scope of corruption. After we try to go through local channels to seek righting the wrong and justice, we find that those layers of government that we believed were there to help us prevail, to protect us from unconstitutional and illegal activities and criminals have been also disabled. We find ourselves in a vacuum with no gravity for balance and control. And unless our coworkers, who are not a part of the problem, can see directly what we are reporting and experience the firestorm themselves, they tend to discount what we say. It is a form of denial, frantic dismissal of something we’d really rather not know, thank you. There is a tendency to step back and say “My ox isn’t being gored; leave me alone.” It is the fear of the known and the fear of the perceived unknown that is so deadening. It is demeaning, frustrating, and profoundly disillusioning for most.

And those who would benefit from the meltdown, keep raising the stimuli to provoke a fear reaction to paint an indistinct, but frightening perception of what might happen to us if we speak, if we dare try to do something about the problem that it seems we are the only one privy to. It is the fear of being a target, of being alone, of losing our homes, families, friends, of losing our dreams, and our inability to imagine what, other than destruction, lies on the other side of taking those steps, that steals our souls and keeps us from uniting and supporting each other.

It is time we combat and overcome this kind of fear mongering too. We must confront wrong-doing. We must demand that our government agencies, Justice branch, and our elected Legislative branch officials do also. And we must demand that our Executive branch adhere to our laws and stop attempts to cover up wrongdoing, control issues and situations to keep justice from functioning. We must support our friends and coworkers when they do what is right and stand up and be willing to report and testify to what we know too. We must not allow ourselves to be divided and defeated. We must fight for our rights, and our lives and our future by supporting actively, those who take the lead, and we must join them in demanding that our Constitution and laws are upheld, our freedoms preserved, and that justice should function and prevail.