Why Are Conservatives So Afraid?

In case you haven't noticed, I follow politics. I read a lot, and just as importantly, I listen to a lot of talk radio as I go about my day. I listen to conservatives that range the spectrum - from Neal Boortz, who is nominally a "libertarian" and who you can occasionally talk to like a normal human being, to Michael Savage, who I enjoy hearing scream out of my radio about how fags caused 9/11 - and universally, these conservatives are deeply afraid of Islamic terrorists. They go on and on about people that want to kill you and your family, and that these people are an existential threat to America. Excuse me if I sound like a bit thick, but... Why?

The fact of the matter is that terrorism is an extremely weak method of achieving your goals. If the terrorist's goal is really to establish a pan-Arabic Caliphat, then blowing up Muslim civilians and assassinating leaders is not the best approach, as the early progenitors of Al Qaeda learned in Egypt. Terrorism only turns the people against you, which is why terrorism is now used almost exclusively against the "other," however that is defined by your in-group. But even when the self-defeating aspects of attacking your own are removed, terrorism is still a weak tactic. How many governments have they succeeded in toppling in their 30 year history? How can they be a pantload inducing threat if you're more likely to be hit by a meteorite than killed by a terrorist?

Take, for instance, the example we all live on a day-to-day basis. The terrorists attacked America and succeeded beyond all that had preceded them, killing thousands of innocent Americans in the attack. But what did they accomplish? Given that attacks seem to happen every decade, what did they accomplish beyond sadness and rage? Did the government topple? Did we disengage from the world? Did we reign in capitalism, or change our economic policies towards the region? Of course not, because we're America and we wont be pushed around by some bunch of pissant cavedwellers. Similarly, I wont be frightened of a bunch of goatherds that have to live in dank caves to avoid being scattered all over the mountainside by an American bomb.

In fact, I only see one real danger deriving from the threat of the "Islamofascists" - the danger that we, the people of America, will flip out so completely in response to terrorism that we destroy our own way of life. The terrorists have no capability to threaten our American way of life, and so are not a direct threat to the average American. It is only our own government which can threaten us, and so moderation, rule of law, and calm should be preached - not constantly increasing invocations of fear and panic.