Beware of the Candidates Who Use Scare Tactics to Gain Power
I am very concerned with some tactics, such as fear mongering, misinformation, not-so hidden racism and anti-volunteerism that are present in this year’s local and national ultraconservative political campaigns.
While the Trump presidential campaign is the main offender, candidates for our congressional, state Senate and even my local Village Board have also employed these divisive tactics.
Fear mongering and lies are key ingredients in these mean-spirited campaigns. For example, although all reports on crime in our area show a significant decrease in violent and non-violent crime, the airways and internet are filled with dire warnings about “muggers, rapists and terrorists” infiltrating our communities. This misinformation is an insidious form of racism and xenophobia, focusing fear on non-white and immigrant communities.
In order to feed voter fear, these propagandists also extend their hate-filled attacks to dedicated volunteers and public servants who are actually working to solve our communities’ serious challenges. One well-known example of this is propaganda from the Trump/Lawler campaigns demonizing Mondaire Jones and others who supported the bipartisan border-control bill and increased funding for law enforcement – falsely claiming that these folks, and their hard work, are somehow responsible for a fictional increase in immigrant crime.
This propagandistic approach is also seen in Mount Kisco, where some VIP Party leaders spearheaded the recent successful efforts to ban longtime Trail Team volunteers from maintaining our trail network and to eliminate our community relations officer. These two programs were actually improving the lives of area homeless people, and the quality of life of our entire community. The usual fear-mongering lies regarding immigrants also featured in VIP social media posts, attacking disadvantaged residents and those working with them to improve our community, just to create false talking points for a divisive, implicitly racist agenda.
Now, I don’t think that the current VIP/Republican Party leaders and candidates are all xenophobes and racists. Rather, I believe that some of them are willing to use racist scare tactics to gain and maintain political power.
I urge your readers to support and vote for sincere, truly inclusive, competent, lifelong public servants like Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, Mondaire Jones, Peter Harckham and Tom Luzio, who put truthfulness ahead of the desire for power and compassion above personal gain.
John Rhodes
Mount Kisco
Examiner Media – Keeping you informed with professionally-reported local news, features, and sports coverage.