Fear-mongering candidates should pay at the ballot box

As the political campaigns approach, I have given some thought to what I have learned over the past 40 years from 10 presidential campaigns and 20 mid-term elections, and I can't remember how many local bids for power.

I have often been appalled by unproven claims used for political gain that are intended to cause us to fear an outcome predicted by a politician, including the purposed use of lies to gain a vote.

Perhaps more important, though, I am appalled by how readily folks would rather agree with a specious negative prediction, as compared to a favorable outcome based upon fact. To make responsible choices, these claims of impending and intense harm should be identified early and given critical review to determine if they are meant to influence our vote by deception. While certainly not a comprehensive list, I have noticed at least five which I call "deceit by fear."

Fear is one of the most basic human emotions. It follows a thought that we have been hurt, are being hurt now, or will be hurt in the future. If a politician can cause us to "feel" a negative feeling and the feeling is fear, as compared to "think" a positive thought, we may have been duped by a skillful manipulator of human behavior.

Many politicians and talk-radio ideologues find it easier to motivate those who choose to be ignorant by convincing them to be afraid, as compared to the arduous process of convincing them with fact and truth, often without even offering a rational argument. Fear motivates people easily, but intellectual activity is hard work.

The first of the deceit-by-fear claims is the assertion that an event will cause extreme harm. "If we store high-level radioactive waste in the Nevada desert, it will seep into our ground water, causing all of our children and grandchildren to suffer serious, life-threatening radioactive poisoning and die horrible deaths."

Second is a prediction that a harmful event will happen with certainty and cannot be prevented unless you vote for the politician making the claim. Of course, no one can predict the future, so the politician is quite safe in making such assertions. But we often allow ourselves to be convinced that politicians can predict the future, and, furthermore, can do so with "certainty." Yet such claims can seldom be proven or verified. "We all know that the American education system will destroy America and all we stand for."

Third, the prediction is all-inclusive and absolute, using words such as "always" and "never," including statements like, "All good scientists agree that unless man changes his behavior patterns, global warming will destroy the earth, unless you read my book and support me."

Fourth, little or specious evidence is presented to support the prediction about which you should be fearful. The prediction may be based upon information from a single, biased source presented as credible but extrapolated to phrases like "all good educators agree." This category also includes those issues on which many experts do agree yet are still based upon specious evidence.

Fifth, there are no alternatives; those that you present are rejected out-of-hand with glib spin and intimidation. "There is no other way. We must fence the borders between Mexico and Canada to keep illegal aliens out of our country. We all know that these people will destroy American culture and our way of life as we know it."

These kinds of predictions are used to further the self interest of the proponent at the expense of those sufficiently ignorant to bear the burden of deceit by fear. When considering these five signs of political dishonesty, they should also be applied to these same principles when politicians predict unsupported positive outcomes with the same characteristics.

Politically immoral behavior is not new to the American scene, yet unfortunately shrugged off lightly by most Americans. In reading David McCullough's book "John Adams," it is noted that political manipulation and deceit was just as rampant in those days as it is now. In that the first amendment appears to allow such behavior, our responsibilities are clear. Those who use fear by deceit should be defeated at the ballot box or turned out of office.

• Dan Mooney is a retired Carson City resident and frequent contributor to the Nevada Appeal's Opinion page