Fear obscures reason, intensifies emotions, and makes it easier for demagogic politicians to mobilize the public on behalf of the policies they want to pursue.

Can we really mobilize support, even of friends, when we tell them that if you are not with us you are against us?

Because America is a democracy, public support for presidential foreign-policy decisions is essential.

The public has been told repeatedly that terrorism is 'evil,' which it undoubtedly is, and that 'evildoers' are responsible for it, which doubtless they are. But beyond these justifiable condemnations, there is a historical void.

We don't have a public that really understands the world anymore, and in the age of complexity, that problem becomes much more difficult.

It is important to ask ourselves, as citizens, whether a world power can provide global leadership on the basis of fear and anxiety.