When they married in 1948 my parents like most of their generation, were New Deal Democrats. They were part of what would later be called “The Greatest Generation”, coming of age during the Great Depression and tested by war. Having seen a world with great deprivation and danger, they had a near religious belief in the power of Government to do great good. Their faith was well founded. They had seen first hand a Government that had literally fed the starving, brought light into darkness, educated the ignorant, gave power to the powerless, and defeated unimaginable evil. After a few years, the GI Bill allowed them to move from the crowded city to a small house in the suburbs and start a family. To them this country and its government were the embodiment of the shinning city on the hill.
Around this time their politics started to subtly change. The Cold War and its aura of fear had begun to permeate the American political landscape. In the early 1950’s the Republicans hit upon a strategy to defeat the powerful hold the Democratic Party had earned over the American public. They could play upon the public’s fear of communism and whip them into a frenzy of paranoia. While Joe McCarthy did his best to convince the public that there were communists behind every corner, Nixon mastered the tactic of red-baiting as he came to power. At the height of this period many lifelong Democrats began to see the Republicans as the only party that could keep them safe. Fear appeared to be an unbeatable political weapon, and my parents fell victims to it. By 1960 their faith in Liberal beliefs was shaken and soon a 4×6 poster of Richard Nixon hung in our front picture window.
For the next forty years, the Republican’s used fear to gain power. Goldwater preached a rabid form of anti-communism. Nixon’s “Silent Majority” and “Southern Strategy” played on fears of race, urban unrest, moral decay, change, and the growing youth movement. Reagan had us battling an “Evil Empire” that would require “Star Wars” technology to defeat. As long as they could maintain the level of fear at a fever pitch, they could maintain power.
Something interesting happened to my parents during this period. After nearly thirty years of being staunch Republicans, things began to change sometime during Reagan’s first term. They just got tired of being constantly told to be afraid. They no longer wanted to live in a state of perpetual fear.
The one problem with the politics of fear is that after a while people just can’t continue to live that way. The emotional investment that is required cannot be maintained over long periods of time. My parents had had enough with the paranoia politics of the Republican Party and eventually returned to their progressive roots. It was a long journey but by 1984 there was a Mondale sticker on their car bumper.
The current crop of Republican fear mongers now whip a new generation up with tales of unimaginable horror, dividing them along lines of religion, race and economics. We should never forget the lesson of my parents. During their lifetime, they witnessed Government during its greatest shining moment and its lowest point of cynicism. In the end they chose optimism over apprehension, compassion over hate, equality over injustice, and hope over fear.