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The Politics of Anger
by Jim Moss
Anger is not a primary emotion. It flows from another emotion, usually hurt or fear. A person is first hurt or frightened in some fashion - then becomes angry in response to the primary emotion. The conception of anger as a secondary emotion often points to important situational or psychological factors that have triggered the angry feelings. (from “Practical Psychology for Pastors” by Miller and Jackson, p.146) 
Or this robocall that implies directly states that Obama is an extremist and possibly even a terrorist? Hello, I’m calling for John McCain and the RNC because you need to know that Barack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, whose organization bombed the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, a judge’s home and killed Americans. And Democrats will enact an extreme leftist agenda if they take control of Washington. Barack Obama and his Democratic allies lack the judgment to lead our country. This call was paid for by McCain-Palin 2008 and the Republican National Committee. “This is not a man who sees America as you and I see America. We see America, as a force for good in this world. We see an America of exceptional-ism -Yes USA! USA! -our opponent is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who target their own country.” This is no good cop/bad cop routine where the candidates play nice and talk up the issues while sleazy underground operatives do all the smearing and sliming and fear mongering. They’re all bad cops. The Republicans are spewing venom from top to bottom, taking advantage of shameful social realities such as latent racism and lingering phobias of communism. And they’re not even being subtle about it. They’re just coming right out and calling Obama a terrorist, a socialist, a communist, anti-American, or whatever it is they think will scare voters away from him. It’s fear-based politics in its lowest and rawest form. But there is good news! As I said at the top, there are two primary emotions that lead to anger: fear and hurt. And while there is plenty of fear out there, there might be even more hurt. Mortgage crisis. Wall Street crisis. Health care crisis. Rising unemployment. Rising inflation. Stagnant wages. And this economic pain leads to anger. Why is this good news? Because this anger is being directed at the Republicans. A recent CNN Poll showed that two-thirds of Americans blame the GOP for the economic crisis. Despite McCain’s maverickey attempt to distance himself from Bush and the Republican establishment, the voters seem to get that his economic plan is just a continuation of the last eight years. This means that people look at McCain and feel hurt and anger. When they look at Obama, some feel the fear and anger that the Republicans hope they will; but more feel positive feelings such as reassurance and hope. This year, at last, it seems that hope is going to win. Jim Moss is a Presbyterian minister from York, South Carolina. He publishes a blog and a quarterly newsletter called "Discipline for Justice," which focuses on ways North Americans can live lives that promote peace and economic justice.
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