Fear versus Trust

I've been reading Al Gore's book The Assault on Reason and it reads rather like a federal statute for exporting oatmeal, but I did run across one section that I found to be both interesting and worthwhile.

He quoted Ed Muskie:

"There are only two kinds of politics. They're not radical and reactionary or conservative and liberal or even Democratic and Republican. There are only the politics of fear and the politics of trust. One says you are encircled by monstrous dangers. Give us power over your freedom so we may protect you. The other says the world is a baffling and hazardous place, but it can be shaped by the will of men."

Muskie said those words in 1970, on the eve of the midterm election. I'd like to think we're a little wiser now, 38 years later. But once again it's coming down to fear and loathing versus hope and trust.