Good Old Mom, Chevrolet, Apple Pie, Fear

Only in the most remote tunnels of the American mind can the fear be found. It resides there, smirking and powerful, never taking credit for the results of its residence. Like an unwelcome guest, most Americans pretend not to recognize the fear and its significance in their lives yet it has been there from the beginning. This fear hearkens back to the basis of a social contract on which all societies are built one way or another. In order to feel secure, people believe they are required to sacrifice certain freedoms as an offering to the gods of Order. It is the fear of losing control, being taken advantage of, being overthrown by an internal enemy or a foreign one that time after time grabs hold of the wheel when a decision needs to be made. Whether as a concerned friend or a devious foe, fear has been on our shoulder all along, that is certain; but what is not certain is whether we will ever shake that fear and whether we want to.
It was fear that drove the persecuted pilgirms to their ships on a desperate search for new opportunities. It was fear of domination that sparked the Revolutionary War. The colonists were exhausted by King Gerorge III's tyranny and feared they would never pry themselves from under his rotund, British thumb. The Intolerable, Townshend and Stamp Acts are among the sort of shackles that the colonists were trying to escape. These acts were forced upon them by the government in Britain because the colonists had ineffective means of representing themselves. They feared they would never be viewed or treated as an autonomous entity and therefore be eternally subjected to the whims of a king. Like a thorn, their fear bored into them until thay had little choice but to act in defense against this incorrigible apprehension.
Inevitably the newly freed Americans were drunk with victory; celebrations were had, farms were farmed, babies were made. Thus the infant nation grew. Thus the infant nation grew fat, its population spilling haphazardly over its borders like a slovenly, extravagant gut. This lifestyle might have been comfortable for the nation were it not for the tightness of its borders. The Americans' desire to expand their collective waistband may be mistakenly viewed as pure gluttony. But this was not the case. Suitable farmland was growing scarce; the nation was becoming more and more crowded and the new generations had nowhere to go to establish themselves. Americans feared lack of space for new homes, lack of jobs, and lack of resources. These were not idle concerns that would solve themselves; the Americans were prodded into action again by their worry.
Congress' Indian Removal Act was a brilliant way to loosen America's belt. Not only would it provide room for the expanding nation but it would help "keep track" of the unpredictable and perplexing natives who could not be trusted. Gradually the native Americans were rounded up and sent to various western locales far from the trembling fingers of the the new Americans - at least for the time being. The fact that some tribes revolted against the arrangement only served to prove to Americans how dangerous and fearsome these people were. So the nation heaved a massive collective sigh of relief after the process was complete that could have sent tidal waves rolling across the Pacific Ocean (since that's the direction they were facing of course).
The United States had had a problem with other races since the beginning, not just with the natives but with Africans and Mesoamericans as well. Cultures which originated outside of Europe's wholesome imperial grasp were misunderstood and feared, and, naturally, persecuted. This was especially apparent in the treatment of black Americans. Initially retrieved from Africa like livestock from an auction and brought to the Americas as slaves, the blacks were of little concern to the people of the United States. They were kept under a tight rein. At the onset of the 19th century, however, America was suddenly gripped by a spasm of virtue known as abolitionism. This move to release blacks from bondage might be viewed as a courageous battle but many abolitionists feared the retaliation of freedmen and wanted them to return to Africa to avoid a violent coup de tat from the black community. Others feared the wrath of John Brown and his guerilla warfare against slavery. Most Americans simply did not know how to handle the issue of slavery which resulted in episodes like Bleeding Kansas and the Missouri Compromise.
Like a conniving Disney marketing ploy the fear wormed its way inside the Americans' hearts again during the Civil War. In this case the South feared the tyranny of the North and of the federal government. The issues of states' rights, tariffs, and slavery were continually swaying in favor of the North. Southerners feared the onset of another era of oppression similar to that of the recently rebuffed King George III. With a mind to flick the tiresome mosquito of fear from their arm, the Southerners seceded from the United States forming the Confederacy. But that mosquito soon landed on the necks of the Northerners. The North feared the great experiment called democracy was collapsing from exhaustion. They knew the entire world had their magnifying glasses up against this experiment searching for a flaw. What kind of message would the secession send to other countries, particularly Mother Britain? One of discord and failure. The Union feared looking weak in the eyes of the world. They also feared that allowing disunion now would set a precedent of rupturing seams and of future weakness. So the Union set upon the Confederacy like a mother armed with a paddle sets upon an unruly child.
Immediately after the Union's victory over the Confederacy, Reconstruction was hurled upon the chastened Southerners. Now that the slaves were freed, the South feared an uprising from them. They sensed that the freedmen intended to have rights now that they had been liberated. The South was very fond of its control and its feeling of security that it had nursed with slavery for so many years. With the loss of that security the South required something new to take its place: the Jim Crow Laws. These laws were designed to bar blacks from their civil rights. With methods like share-cropping blacks and poor whites were kept under the watchful eye of the Southern, affluent whites and enslaved in a system similar to serfdom.
The Gilded Age washed over America like a timely sedative. Industry, economy, and population were blooming a la dandelions. This prosperity wafted across borders and oceans to tempt the dissatisfied from other nations to come and sample the American lifestyle. They succumbed. Immigrants saturated Ellis Island and San Francisco during this time period and the Anglo-Saxons "native" to the land were wary of these pilgrims of social change. The immigrants should have checked their history books before they left. Apparently they had forgotten all the pervious crimes America had committed against blacks, Mexicans and native Americans. Many races came to America clamoring for success in much the same manner that the various colonies clamored before America was even a twinkling in Britain's eye. Fearful of a multi-chromatic culture with differing values and traditions, and fearful of overpopulation once again and lack of jobs and resources, Americans barred the immigrants from various jobs and adequate housing. Many races were assigned quotas which allowed only a certain number of people per race to enter the U.S. each year. In 1882 Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act which made it illegal for the Chinese people to immigrate into the United States. Once again, America successfully quelled its fear for awhile, no longer having to worry about the besmirching of this gilded haven by foreigners.
When the Japanese sprinkled bombs across Pearl Harbor it sent a message to many Americans that anyone appearing to be of Japanese descent was untrustworthy (ha ha ho ho and hee hee). The Americans' knees began to quake which signaled it was about time for another remedy. This time racism was called Japanese Internment. Any Japanese American (even those who had been living in America for several generations) was sent to an internment camp for the duration of World War 2. The American people must have slept comfortably in their beds with that knowledge - similar to how the Germans must have slept in ihre Betten after rounding up those pesky Jews/Gypsies/Homosexuals etc during World War 2. In times of terror there is no time for irony.
Nothing has ever soaked American bed sheets with the cold sweat of nightmares as readily as communism. And no country has ever kidnapped and perverted the ideals of communism quite as absolutely as the USSR. Clearly the bear and the eagle were destined for a passionate and turbulent affair. Alas romance is not as powerful nor as delicious as fear; the two nations repulsed each other instead. 1950s America soon fell in love with nuclear weaponry and the possibility of annihilating the Soviet Union [and everything else on the planet (that'll teach 'em!)]. The idea of being nuked was so terrifying to Americans that it seemed absolutely necessary to threaten the USSR with being nuked. Consequently fear's uterus squeezed out her biggest child yet, christened MAD. Anyone suspected of worshiping communism was blacklisted. Everyone's security was threatened which led to an "us or them" attitude, even amongst fellow citizens. Unfortunately the question of "us or them" has always been too easy a question for Americans to answer. Fear was running rampant through the nation and people who were once friends and neighbors could no longer be trusted.
I don't think Linus ever realized how close his security blanket was to becoming a straitjacket. The American government has shared this disturbing ignorance. Several times in the course of history the government has felt obligated to become the nearsighted seamstress who would dutifully sew on the fabrics necessary to make that fateful transition ftom cozy quilt to repressive jacket. Each swipe of the needle became the Alien, Sedition, and Patriot Acts, and the suspension of Habeas Corpus. With arms wrapped firmly behind its back during each of these occasions the nation has risked eventual atrophy.
The Sedition Act was intended to muzzle the opposing ideas emanating from within the citizenry. If they hadn't been so quick with the muzzle someone might have mentioned that internal opposition is the bread and butter of democracy. The other components of the Alien and Sedition Acts (enemies, friends, and naturalization) and the Patriot Act were simply euphemisms for racism. The exclusion of other cultures is a tripping stone for any attempt at all-men-are-created-equalism. In the words of Poor Richard, "Those who give up essential liberties for temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Fear is no stranger to the United States. It has been lounging in the American heart from the beginning and has been integrated into every aspect of American character. Now is the time to decide whether this fear is welcome or whether it would behoove Americans to kick the fear out on its reactionary ass. The question is whether we are more afraid of the unknown, of yielding some control, of change, or of the dangers risked in reacting blindly and rapidly to terror. Franklin Delano Roosevelt answered, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." The future of America is inexorably linked to the courage that lies waiting and ready within every American. Every individual must decide whether this habitual fear is tolerable. If it is tolerable then we may innocently close our eyes and wake up in Oceania. If it is not tolerable, then - what?