Politics has long been a place where fear and loathing are exploited: fear of progress, fear of the unknown, fear of the other, fear of our own neighbors.
Interpretation
The quote highlights how fear is often manipulated in politics to create division and resistance to change.
S.E. Cupp’s quote suggests that politics exploits human emotions, particularly fear, to maintain power and control. By instilling fear regarding progress, the unknown, and differences among people, politicians can create an environment of hostility and distrust, hindering constructive dialogue and the potential for societal advancement.
In practice
During a political debate, one might use this quote to illustrate how campaigns can create division.
The Bush administration continues to coddle China, despite its continuing crackdown on democratic reform, its brutal subjugation of Tibet, its irresponsible export of nuclear and missile technology... Such forbearance on our part might have made sense during the Cold War when China was the counterweight to Soviet power. It makes no sense to play the China card now when our opponents have thrown in their hand.
A president cannot meaningfully honor certain token artists while the people at large are so dishonored.'”
A country survives its legislation. That truth should not comfort the conservative nor depress the radical. For it means that public policy can enlarge its scope and increase its audacity, can try big experiments without trembling too much over the result. This nation could enter upon the most radical experiments and could afford to fail in them.
If you do not take an interest in the affairs of your government, then you are doomed to live under the rule of fools.
Whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force.
Men who sincerely abhorred the word Communism in the pursuit of common ends found that they were unable to distinguish Communists from themselves…. For men who could not see that what they firmly believed was liberalism added up to socialism could scarcely be expected to see what added up to Communism. Any charge of Communism enraged them precisely because they could not grasp the differences between themselves and those against whom it was made.
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