Replacing Fear With Hope: With elections approaching in the U.S. and Iceland, lazy tactics prevail

On November 5, voters in the U.S. will elect the next global dictator for a four-year term. This election, even more so than the previous two elections, has been marked by both candidates campaigning on fear. One candidate on the fear of [insert long, often incoherent list here], the other candidate on the (far from unfounded) fear of what the election of their opponent would mean for the future of democracy and the U.S. as a whole.

Iceland, meanwhile, will hold snap elections on Nov. 30. The stakes are lower — elections in Iceland won’t affect global security — but what is similar is how candidates are pandering to voters’ baser instinct: fear

Fear is a great motivator for getting people to vote, because of its crass baseness. It motivates much like hunger. But its side effects are by now very apparent in the U.S., sparking increased polarization and deep distrust of that other half of the population that votes differently. That distrust is most often not valid — many voters would in most cases find themselves in agreement on many things when it comes down to it.

However, you cannot have the politics of fear without a general and real sense of something being wrong and that wrong needing to be put right. All countries have their problems, though on drastically different scales, but once stuff feels half broken for long enough, apathy tends to set in, followed by desperation. Iceland’s problems are on a different scale than those in America. But they are there and the majority of the population senses that something is wrong after 30 years of laissez-faire capitalism in the West. Whatever caused it, a lot of our basic services and institutions seem to be in need of a major overhaul.

But this won’t be solved by adopting a politics of fear. Politics of fear are lazy politics. They are the lowest common denominator; the most stupid; the easiest way to win elections. They are what you resort to when you have no ideas left — when you have no plans to solve the problems at hand but you’d still really like to be in power.

Many of Iceland’s political parties are also engaging in a different way of masking their lack of political ideas: by drafting Icelandic mini-celebrities to populate their candidate lists. Still, it’s the increase in fear mongering as election day inches closer that is most problematic.

Case in point is the current prime minister’s remarks on multiculturalism. His party is polling horribly — probably because the voters no longer believe the Independence Party can deliver on two of their key planks: being business friendly and delivering economic stability. So predictably, having come up short on new ideas and with very few voters still falling for the old ones, the party has nothing to run on but fear in the form of good ‘ol lazy racism.

But our problems won’t be solved through the politics of fear or by the familiar faces of mini-celebrities shilling for one party or another. The solution comes through adopting a politics of hope. But the politics of hope require work to be done. You have to come up with complex policy ideas and plans, you have to foster a shared purpose and aim towards some sort of a goal for society, then you have to tell your voters about it and convince them of the right path forward. I know, this is hard work, but for the love of the almighty, it isn’t too much to ask, is it?

So, dear political parties of Iceland, I beg you: come up with some political platforms and policy ideas about how to build a better Iceland, so we can have an election campaign run on hope instead of the same stupid, inefficient, lazy and destructive fear (with a sprinkling of mini-celebrities) we’ve come to expect.

Follow along with the Grapevine’s 2024 election coverage.