Letter to the editor: Biden's campaign focuses on fear

Of all the motivations we use to cajole, motivate or control someone, fear is the top motivator. It is such a strong driver of our behavior that it also may form the basis for every other motivator in our lives. Fear is rooted in our childhood experiences, and it moves us subconsciously. Instilling fear in the public, in particular the older generation, seems to be the modus operandi of the Democratic Party and Joe Biden.

Biden’s campaign is spending a ton of money on campaign ads for TV and the web. I think the intention is to tell the same lies over and over until they tend to have meaning of their own.

One recent example is the ad about Social Security and how President Trump’s temporary pause on withholding certain payroll taxes, including payments into the Social Security system, will deplete the funds by summer 2023. The intention is to scare the bejesus out of every senior collecting from the fund. Of course, since the deferral only would last for a limited amount of time and the taxes probably would have to be repaid, The Washington Post (not a Trump supporter) Fact Checker feature awarded the Biden ad “four Pinocchios” for making claims about a plan that doesn’t exist. Brings back memories of tossing Grandma over a cliff doesn’t it? Wasn’t true then and isn’t true now.

In spite of this fact-check by the Post, the Biden campaign continues to push this false narrative.

Remember the words of Franklin D. Roosevelt: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

Ed Liberatore

Turtle Creek