Have you seen Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine". The basic premise is that fear drive much of what is wrong in the US. Fear of crime, etc...

>In a radio (not Rush Limbaugh) show this morning I heard someone remark that the U.S. has changed radically since the time that President FDR said 'the only thing we have to fear is fear itself'.
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>The speaker remarked that President Bush's whole strategy today vis-a-vis the war on terrorism is based wholly, specifically and only on fear itself.
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>The speaker then went on to discuss how this is leading to the rapid deterioration of civil liberties upon which the U.S. is built and the diminishment of respect for the U.S. around the world, in the process demonstrating the accuracy of President Roosevelt's statement.
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>I thought the consideration of FDR's statement in today's context was smart.