Hobbes wrote that fear drives out hope. Conservatives have understood this well, over the past few decades, maintaining power by invoking irrational fear of the Soviet Union, irrational fear of African-American assertiveness, and irrational fear of Islamic violence.
And the American public is still responding to those primitive proddings from the amygdala induced by conservative rhetoric.
According to this USA/Gallup poll:
Americans are overwhelmingly opposed to closing the detention center for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay and moving some of the detainees to prisons on U.S. soil, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds.
By more than 2-1, those surveyed say Guantanamo shouldn’t be closed. By more than 3-1, they oppose moving some of the accused terrorists housed there to prisons in their own states.
Despite the fact that our invulnerable supermax prisons already house the worst of the worst, the American public has bought into conservative rhetoric that our prison system and police forces are just not up to the task of incarcerating the terror suspects held at Guantanamo.
It may, therefore, be impossible to close Guantanamo and conceal that stain on our reputation. This is another instance in which conservatism is destroying American values.
Tags: fear and conservative politics, Guantanamo prisoners, USA Today/Gallup poll
