I am rapidly tiring of the phrase "be afraid," used frequently throughout the liberal blogosphere. Fear is the worst possible response to any threat other than immediate physical danger.

Although the love of money is productive of much evil, fear, not money, is the root of it all. A person overcome by fear will commit the vilest acts of treachery without the slightest remorse. Tyrants rule by fear and in turn are ruled by fear, which turns them into monsters that ultimately destroy themselves.

Science has only recently begun to discover the deleterious effect of fear and anxiety upon the human body and psyche. The hormones our bodies produce in response to danger, if produced continuously, cause all manner of damage to the body and the brain.

One of the principal objects of all the world's great religions and paths is the conquest of fear. Jesus was continually exhorting his disciples to "be not afraid." (Matt. 8:26; 17:7; 28:10; Mark 6:50; Luke 12:7; John 14:27); Jehovah and his messengers frequently admonished people not to be afraid of anything on the Earth and to only fear Him. (Gen. 26:24; Josh. 10:25; 2 Kings 1:15; Ps. 27:1). Sri Krishna told Arjuna "Do not be troubled; do not fear my terrible form." (Bhagavad Gita, 11:49). The Buddha: "From pleasure comes grief, from pleasure comes fear; he who is free from pleasure neither sorrows nor fears." (Dhammapada, XVI:212) Chögyam Trungpa: " The key to warriorship and the first principle of Shambhala is not being afraid of who you are. Ultimately, that is the definition of bravery: not being afraid of yourself." Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior, p.28 (Boston, 1984)

Jack Kornfield wrote that after all is said "there is only love and fear," the two mighty opposites, the two worldviews that through their interplay create history.

It seems to me that the chief psychological manifestation of fear is what psychologists call projection: attributing to others unacceptable aspects of one's self. We fear the darkness within and therefore project it onto other persons, nations, religions or gods. The less familiar the "other," the more effective the projection. All of the problems of the world, nation, person, etc. are said to be caused by liberals, communists, fascists, conservatives, vegetarians, catholics, protestants, blacks, whites, latinos, or some other person, group, tribe, family, or nation that is the object of our projection, and that object must be suppressed or destroyed to solve the problem. For 50 years we projected our dark side onto Communism. When the Soviet Union collapsed, thus depriving us of our projection, our rejoicing was short-lived, because our elites quickly initiated a frantic search for a new enemy, a new target for our projections. After demonizing Serbia and bombing it into ruin, it was not long before they settled upon Islam as the preferred enemy.

Islam, in many respects, makes a perfect target of projection. Few Americans know Arabic or Persian or have even visited the middle east. We know little of the religious or social customs of Muslims. Few Americans have muslim friends. There is an abysmal ignorance of middle eastern history, especially the last two hundred years. Our Christian and Jewish religions have fought with Islam at one time or another for over a thousand years. A lack of familiarity with the target of projection is almost a prerequisite. It is difficult to project attributes onto someone you know well.

For elites, there is much to be said for demonizing an enemy. The nation can be mobilized for war. Civil liberties can be curtailed in the name of national security. Profits that would be considered obscene in peacetime can be made by corporations with the right political connections without interference by the organs of state charged with controlling corruption. Fear impairs judgment, and a fearful population is more pliable and more likely to believe what they are told than a less fearful one. Therefore, there is a constant struggle between those who would instill fear in the people and those who would endeavor to dispel that fear.

To the point: The the right-wing movement that controls the levers of the United States government has gained that power and is attempting to retain and extend that power by fear. It has been extraordinarily successful because liberals and progressives have attempted to mobilize opposition against the right wing by telling people that they should fear what Bush and his administration is doing and trying to do. This is a losing fight. You cannot fight fear with fear any more than you can fight evil with evil or fire with fire. Fear only makes the right wing stronger because the basis of its power is fear and fear alone. Roosevelt was right: we have nothing to fear but fear itself.

Ultimately, the origin of all fear is the repressed fear of our own selves. The only remedy for that kind of fear is the willingness to see ourselves and our nation honestly for what we are--basically good but, like all humankind, deeply flawed and too often prone to foolishness and evil.

We are progressives and liberals; we are not afraid of Osama Ben Laden, or Saddam Hussein or communism or anything else that we are told to be afraid of. We will not kowtow to injustice, whether it is domestic or foreign. We are not willing to give up our freedom for security, because the deal is rigged and we end up with neither. We realize that the price of freedom and justice can be high, but that any other bargain is no bargain at all. That we might become victims of terrorism is no reason to be cowards, about whom it is rightly said die many times, whereas the brave die only once.

Our nation was founded on ideas of freedom, justice and democracy--not race, religion, history or soil. Abandon those ideals and there will be no nation to preserve. Many people gave their lives for those ideals and considered it a good trade. We feel the same way.

So don't tell me to be afraid. Concerned, yes. Angry, perhaps. But not afraid.