Authoritarians fear 'them' in order to justify the state
I want to address the fear of "them". Just last night I heard a person expressing a fear of a certain group of people, saying how "America will be overtaken by 'them' because 'we' are not having enough children to sustain our society, while 'they' are breeding like rabbits." Then when "they" take over, "America will be destroyed!" (No one can really foretell the future, but it makes for nice fear-mongering.) The truth is "America" was destroyed long ago. The coffin was closed by Abraham Lincoln. The final nail was driven into the coffin by Woodrow Wilson. The coffin was buried in an unmarked grave by FDR. Everything since then has just been "Elvis sightings".
You should understand that in my personal sphere I am surrounded by authoritarians who call themselves "conservatives" (mostly of the devoutly religious stripe), while in the news and "entertainment" media I am constantly barraged by the authoritarians who promulgate the ideals of those who now call themselves "progressives" (rather than "liberals"). What they call themselves only seems to make a difference in the minor details of who they fear; not in their solution to that fear.
In my personal sphere, surrounded by the "conservatives", the "them" to fear or revile is, or has been, Muslims, Mexicans, "blacks", atheists, "drug" users, people whose sexual preferences are "different", or anyone who doesn't worship at the altar of the glorious state. Is there anything more ridiculous? "They" will out breed "us" and overrun the country! (So what? Don't sell your property to anyone unless you want to and it benefits you.) "They" will destroy the moral base of our society! (And you think statism hasn't already done that? With your support and approval, no less!) "They" will ...[insert your greatest fear here]... all those who don't believe like 'they' do! (So shoot back.) Don't shrink in fear; assert and defend your rights. You might just discover "the enemy" isn't who you have been brainwashed to believe it is.
In the "progressive" sphere, which I only see through the mainstream media, I see the feared "them" being variously Christians, gun owners, "capitalists", the self-sufficient, "anthropogenic global climate change" skeptics, or anyone who doesn't worship at the altar of the glorious state. "They" are just one traffic disagreement away from riddling some innocent family full of bullet holes. (Funny how rarely that actually happens when you don't count the career thugs on either side of the badge.) "They" have outdated, rigid, beliefs. (And socialists, no matter what they call themselves, and whose ideas have been thoroughly discredited by history and logic, don't?) "They" only care about profit and ignore the less fortunate! (Balderdash. Without profit there is nothing left over with which to help the less-fortunate. And nothing for the socialists to plunder through "taxation".) Controlling the non-coercive, voluntary behavior of other people is completely without merit and harms innocent people, which is my definition of "evil". The reasons for committing evil acts do not matter.
The fear is the same, and their "solution" is always less freedom and more powerful government. It doesn't matter if it is the socialistic authoritarians of the "left" or the "right" who are wringing their hands and calling for more control. Like the hammer and nail analogy, if you see everything as a threat, you always see preemptive state aggression as the answer. You may just be sowing the seeds of your own destruction through a self-fulfilling prophesy. Those of us who are really no threat to each other may eventually see authoritarians for the threat they actually are. That will be an interesting day.
