Once again our leaders in the Bush administration have shown how little we are protected. If they canв t even protect the private passport records of our presidential candidates how can we expect them to stop the bomb in the shopping mall, the suitcase nuke coming across the southern board or the millions of containers that arrive at our ports everyday в " unexamined.

We are quickly becoming a society of people all of whom are at some level of в post traumatic stress syndromeв . Point in fact в " when the tornado hit the Golden Dome in Atlanta during the basketball game last week, most people reported that their first thought was в it was a terrorist attack.в How many of you have thought the same thing when something happens in your hometowns. I have and if you are honest в " you have also. We jump at noises that use to not bother us; we tense up if a helicopter flies over too low. Some of us sleep with the light on now or CNN on all night.

It has been that way for five years because our leaders have led with fear. They have continued to play the в fear cardв every time they need something from Congress and they play it again whenever they need the public to contact their Congressional Representative.

I donв t like this feeling в " this feeling of having our guard up all the time. The administration is even running public service announcements about having a family plan, where to meet our family members if there is a terrorist attack and everyone in your family is separated.

Every time there is a breaking news bulletin в " is this it? They have started testing the emergency broadcast network on a weekly basis now в " instead of monthly в " and it is always on different day and time so it catches us off guard. Do they know something that we donв t know, or do they just want us to believe they do?

How long can our leaders keep us in a state of fear? What damage is this fear having on our bodies? Fear is a powerful emotion в " people do brutal acts because of fear. Revolutions are started in the name of fear.

And do you realize how many of our Constitutional rights have been taken away. Letв s take a look at this. Let say your best friend lives in France. The two of you email back and forth talking about в terroristsв . This word triggers your email into a government program and puts you on a list of people to watch. If you are suspected, the government can bust into your home and search it without a warrant. You can be arrested with no charges and can be kept in jail for weeks or more. If they believe you have information, they ship you to a в friendly countryв and beat you half to death to extract information out of you. After a day or two of this в " you tell them anything, and if you have no real information в " you make up a story just so the torture will stop. Did you realize this? No, probably not because we are afraid. Fear is very powerful and it can keep people in line. This is exactly what the Nazi party did in its rise to power before WW II.

What can we do about this? Probably nothing. The Democrats are fighting over the nomination and the Republican candidate is just Bush III.

Our government should be reassuring us, making us unafraid. A fearful populist can revolt when they are not happy with the present leaders. A fearful populist will follow false prophets who speak will and who can convince them to follow him в " people who really are unable to lead.

This is the most important thing to do about this в " when you go to vote in November, donв t vote for a person out of fear. Vote for them out of hope and change and pray that the person you voted for can deliver on the hope and the change.