Should Policy Makers Consider People's Fears

Fear is a natural instinct that all animals are born with. It keeps them alert and aware of their surrounds and in dangerous situations, fear can be a useful tool for staying safe. However, fear in humans can also drive epidemics by making people do things that do not make sense. So why should policy makers consider the people’s fears if it could drive epidemics? The policies are written for the people so it should take into consideration the belief that they have as well as their fears. Others argue that policy makers should not consider the people’s fears. The policies are written for the people, but who is to say that people know best? Since the policy makers are responsible, they should know what is right. However, the policies are for the people and affects everyone, so their fears and ideas should be taken into consideration.
Communism is an economic system where everyone contributes to the society and property is shared equally. While it sounds like a city on a hill, they are normally controlled by dictators and totalitarian governments (How McCarthyism Worked). Russia, who was taken over by Lenin at that time, was a communist country and America was against communism. Joseph McCarthy used his position in the senate seat to accuse people of being communists who worked as government officials. America was already fearful about having communists working in the government, and McCarthy used that fear in order to prosecute people. Fear was used to drive the Second Red Scare and America became “frantic to identify and remove” people who were thought to be associated with communists (“How McCarthyism Worked”). This put careers at stake and ruined people’s reputations and others were frantic. Fear was used as a tool of manipulation in order to get people to do what McCarthy wanted. “He lit the fire under America’s fear of communism” and watched it