Is this a country dominated by fear?

To me, fear results in responses such as isolation, suspicion, irrationality, violence, discrimination, panic and extremism. This appears to be the state of the country today. We saw it recently in a young person shot twice for ringing a doorbell at the wrong house, a young women shot for turning into a wrong driveway, and several innocent people of color killed by police and civilians.

Fear has made this country the most dangerous and violent country in the western world. Our answer has been more guns, less regulation and, in some places, no regulation of where and who can get and use a gun, generally justified by a bogus Second Amendment argument.

What we don’t seem to understand is that this kind of fear destroys, divides and leads to only more innocent death, more isolation of people, more scapegoating of minority groups (racial or religious) causing serious damage to the social fabric of this country.

Who uses fear? Political parties have, but this is particularly true of the Republican Party’s MAGA group that seems in clear control of the party. Others that seem to use it are extremist, social media, and some religious group often indirectly. The problem is fears sell papers, increases viewership and increases membership.

I feel the solution is to resist isolation, vote out political parties that use fear to get votes and seek positive, honest reporting.