However frequently politicians may speak of the government as an expression of society’s virtues and highest aspirations, the reality is that the fundamental emotion underlying state power is fear. In the shocking aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, with the feeling of safety most Americans had become accustomed to suddenly shattered, Americans were especially vulnerable to those who sought to prey upon fear. Such people were not in short supply, and George W. Bush and his administration exploited the situation to the hilt.

The USA PATRIOT Act, a complex document over 300 pages long, was passed by both houses of Congress with virtually no time to debate or even read the contents of the bill. When the drive to invade Iraq was building, those skeptical of the claim that Iraq was a threat to the United States dire enough to justify an invasion were rebutted with President Bush’s apocalyptic warning that, “We cannot wait for the final proof- the smoking gun- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.” The same horrifying prospect has been endlessly brought up to justify torture of suspects and indefinite imprisonment without trial. The result of giving in to unreasoning fear and putting blind faith in government was a grave weakening of civil liberties, the gutting of centuries-old fundamental principles of due process, and a war that has devastated a nation and cost many thousands of lives.

Bush was rightly condemned for his fear-mongering by many liberals, and no doubt part of Barack Obama’s magnetic appeal for many people was his campaign rhetoric’s emphasis on more positive feelings, such as hope and fellowship. The reality, however, is that exploiting and amplifying the people’s terror and insecurity is by no means a Republican monopoly. The politics of terror is, to use a term the new President is quite fond of, bipartisan.

The severe downturn suffered by the American economy in recent months has once again created an atmosphere of widespread fear and uncertainty. Just as it was after 9/11, people are frightened, insecure, and desperate for someone to save them.

So, fresh from spending $700 billion dollars bailing out the banking industry during the last days of the Bush administration, Congress has just passed a “stimulus” bill with over half a trillion dollars of new spending. President Obama’s rhetoric as he fought for passage of the bill is instructive. When critics in Congress attacked various aspects of the bill, Obama grimly warned that, “Endless delay or paralysis in Washington in the face of this crisis will bring only deepening disaster.” Despite the huge amount of money involved and the bill’s length of more than 1,000 pages, there is no time for discussion; hesitation would, “turn crisis into a catastrophe.” Without the measures Obama calls for, “Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.”

Unfortunately, in a crisis, this is precisely the way to succeed politically. Just as in the aftermath of 9/11, the demand of the terrified public is that the government do something. What is actually done is to a great extent immaterial as long as the people can see that the government is active and decisive. Thus, the USA PATRIOT Act was filled with things that many politicians and people in law enforcement had wanted for years anyway; the terrorist attacks were merely the excuse, not the reason. Many conservatives and neoconservatives wanted an invasion of Iraq for reasons unrelated to Saddam Hussein’s supposed terrorist connections or weapons of mass destruction. Likewise, the stimulus bill is full of things that were on liberal wish lists well before the economic crisis began, as well as all sorts of the pork barrel spending and corporate welfare that accompanies government spending. Once again, solving a national crisis is the excuse for bigger government, not the reason.

The economic crisis is in all likelihood just beginning, and the hysterical public mood that calls for the governments to do something, anything to make us feel protected and looked out for is unlikely to go away soon either. The fear gripping the American people in the current crisis is as large a potential threat to liberty as the hysteria that ensued after 9/11. Once the government expands, it is very hard to push it back, and even temporary “emergency” measures often have a way of becoming permanent.

To gain a better understanding of the role played by fear and desperation caused by crisis situations in the growth of government, look into the work of economist and historian Robert Higgs, much of which is available online (see here, here, and here.) Check out Bureaucrash’s Intel section Homeland Tyranny for more on the price paid for giving in to fear and trusting the government for salvation, Tax Slavery Sucks and Enjoy Capitalism on why the massive increases in government spending and power that many will call for in the coming days and months should be opposed, and Stop Rentseeking to read about the greed, corruption, exploitation, and special privilege that inevitably follows in the wake of government money and power.