This is something that comes up in numerous political debates.

Fear seems to be a double edged sword, it obviously exists for a reason and is useful for survival, on the other hand it is often shown to produce sub-optimal decisions.

So which party's policies are more motivated by fear? I've included 3 possible examples for each party.

Democrats seem fearful of man influenced climate change, republicans seem less concerned.

Republicans seem fearful of murderers breaking into their home, democrats seem less concerned.

Republicans seem fearful of foreign leaders and nations, democrats seem less concerned.

Democrats seem fearful that minorities will be oppressed in various ways by the majority, republicans seem less concerned.

Republicans seem fearful that religious freedom is under attack in America, democrats seem less concerned.

Democrats seem fearful that large corporations will behave unethically, republicans seem less concerned.


Etc., Etc.

Thoughts?

Neocons were the GOAT fearmongers in recent history.

OP you make the GOP seem worse and inferior. That's not fair and balanced.

I agree. Just of the top of my head you missed the point "democrats fear that putting morons in congress could hurt the country, republicans seem less concerned"

Feel free to add your own for discussion or point out which ones are inaccurate. Thats why I made this thread.

Which ones do you find to be inaccurate?

I dont think anyone would disagree that democrats are more scared of global warming, corporations and oppression of minorities than republicans.

I also dont think anyone would disagree that republicans are more fearful that religious freedom is under attack, or would disagree that republicans are more fearful of Iran or China than democrats.

The only one that seems controversial is the breaking and entering one

Democrats are fearful of big corporations and human nature in general.

At least that's the rhetoric they use to regulate commerce and justify higher taxes.

On a tangent, paradoxically, almost all of the major figures in libertarianism (Mises, Schumpeter, Rand, Rothbard, Friedman just for examples) dedicated their entire lives to education and public service.

The right fears change, while the left fears the consequences of not changing.

Isn't that true for almost any sort of philosophical/academic oriented field?

@Grizy

Libertarians fear monger themselves. Infration. Ohnoesbankruptcountry. Debt. Big Brother. Drones. Sociarists. etc.

But the Rs got the stranglehold for uber fearmongering in modern times.

Which party is more motivated by fear of the other party?

They are all good at it. It's the nature of politics and has been for a long time.

Surf,

I believe your view (and many others on this board) is a tad myopic because of your need to caricaturize (is that a word?) all republican/conservatives as knuckling dragging troglodytes from bum rush junction, TN who only have sexy time with their cousins.

Now , there are certainly a cohort of bible thumpers in the R party, but according to the NY Times exit polls, in the suburbs, Romney won the vote 50% to 48%:

http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/re...ent/exit-polls

Honestly, how is religious freedom under attack? I mean I'm as conservative as anyone, but how is religious freedom under attack. I'm guessing the majority of suburbanites that voted for Romney probably don't believe that either.

As to Iran, those who are old enough to remember the Cuban Missile Crisis remember how a true believer (Castro) was willing and rooting to "take one for the team" of worldwide socialism and damn near started WWIII:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/26/op...anted=all&_r=0

It is hardly irrational to be concerned men of the 8th century running a nuclear armed country might pose a serious problem , especially when every 3rd Tuesday their titular leader says something witty about wiping you know who with 200 nukes off the face of the earth.

Also, I don't get the oppressing minorities thing.

I agree that the which party is more motivated by fear. They really need a strong influx of good whiches to counter all the evil whiches which are making this so.

It is irrational to be so worried about things you don't understand, though.

Your Farsi is surely better than mine, so why don't you transcribe the exact quotes for us?

BTW, the Iranians are far more civilized than our oil kingdom friends.

grunching:

Rs/Ds: They use fear, we use love.

Libertarians: Both sides are equally bad at appealing to emotion. We use logic.

the amount of economic illiteracy demonstrated by both parties gives me some fear about the future as a libertarian but reason, evidence, and truth will inevitably win out.

Fear is one of the best ways to get hysterical morons to support you and thus has been a major tool of every major political party ever.

Did you intentionally choose things they fear so it split with Dems fearing real things and Republicans fearing myths and bogeymen?

Non-parties too. You ever read them federalist papers and whatnot?

From the movie Shooter:

Democrats are afraid that climate change could cause social disruption based on decades worth of scientific observation.

Republicans just voted down a treaty for the rights of the disabled because they were afraid the UN would take over parental health care decisions.

Sorry, why did you make this thread?

Both parties are the same. Their motivation is the fear of not being reelected.

Conservatives, LDO

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