Dear George.
One skill a great leader must possess is the ability to market fear. This requires an iron self discipline because when mongering fear, there is a temptation to lather it on. This is a fatal mistake. Beating the fire gong too many times only encourages people to ignore the gong.
There is but one rule to remember when marketing fear: a real threat stirs the public to action; an imaginary threat paralyzes. Always go with the imaginary threat. Real threats are real because there is hard data to support them. Imaginary threats lack the hard data.
Real threats can be good point of departure. The trick is to spin imaginary threats from the real. Your skillful exploitation of 9/11 was a textbook example of this approach. From an isolated event that would have healed on its own, you created your Global War on Terror. Out of that, you spun off nuclear bombs in suitcases, the Great Worldwide Caliphate Plot, Islamofascism, the Clash of Civilizations, Weapons of Mass Destruction, a Patriot Act, a Military Commissions Act, warrentless eavesdropping, Waterboarding, two winless wars, and a cowed congress.
My God, George, I think your mongering would qualify for a place in the Guinness Book of World Records!
Threats gives rise to a need for security, and security generates fear. The very act of seeking security reinforces existing fears and generates new ones because it focuses the public’s attention on the fact that it is frightened. The presence of security facilitates the transition from real threats to imaginary ones. Once it is protected from real threats, public develops a craving for protection from imaginary threats.
This is where great leaders stand ready to accommodate. Once conditioned to accept imaginary threats as real, the public will meekly accept whatever oppressive measures the state deems necessary to keep it secure and will curse those who insist on clinging to outmoded civil rights in the face of so many imaginary threats.
It is fear that enables the leader to lead efficiently. But this is not fear of the leader or of the state, which can spark rebellion, but fear of the “other”.
Your admirer,
Belacqua Jones
5:20:51 AM 
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