Florida Senator Rick Scott recently faced online mockery for labeling Chinese garlic imports to the US as a “national security threat”. While this statement might seem humorous, it’s a typical move by American politicians who consistently brand various Chinese imports as threats, regardless of how absurd the claims may sound.
This pattern isn’t new; it spans numerous items, from seemingly harmless objects like balloons, fridges, coffee machines, to technological aspects such as electric cars, subway cars, students, Confucius Institutes, Huawei, and TikTok. Everything from China is often linked back in a negative light, often associated with a Communist Party conspiracy, reflecting a consistent trend in American senatorial rhetoric.
Understanding this approach requires a deeper insight into how American politics thrives on fear as a driving force. With over 300 million people living across diverse regions, the US, designed as a federalist democracy, struggles with deeply polarized worldviews. Historically, challenges like the Civil War and significant world events, including the World Wars and the Great Depression, propelled a trajectory toward centralized executive power.
Maintaining unity amid such diversity involved not just legal centralization, as seen in Roosevelt’s New Deal, but also the utilization of fear to foster conformity. Utilizing radio and television post-World War II, the US intensified its propaganda machinery to solidify support for its foreign policies.
From the Cold War onward, fear became the primary tool to legitimize foreign policy objectives and enforce unity amidst domestic divisions.
McCarthyism and the Red Scare era weaponized irrational fear to silence dissent, creating outlandish theories of infiltration and subversion, stifling political debates by accusing critics of being compromised or inauthentic.
Fear was weaponized to justify aggressive policies, as seen in the case of the Iraq invasion based on the false claim of Saddam Hussein possessing weapons of mass destruction. Presently, US foreign policy priorities target Beijing, employing anti-Communist paranoia to discredit Chinese products by invoking national security threats.
This fearmongering aims to exclude Chinese products from the American market and persuade allies to do the same. Huawei’s alleged security risks, lacking substantial evidence, illustrate this tactic. The repeated accusation is echoed by the media, influencing public opinion and aligning with desired foreign policy outcomes.
Senator Scott’s claim regarding garlic being a “national security threat” underscores the limitations of such fear-based tactics. The real motive, protecting American producers, was transparent. Previous administrations also sought to exclude Chinese goods based on different angles, such as forced labor allegations concerning goods from Xinjiang.
However, Scott’s comments highlight how paranoia in US politics is often opportunistic and detached from factual evidence. Fear is perceived as a potent tool to enforce conformity in a divided political landscape, making it a powerful albeit divisive force in US politics.
