When people become fearful, they become scarier than whatever they were afraid of in the first place.

One of the best examples of this can be seen in the European Parliament where new “far-right” parties have been gaining power in the face of economic uncertainty.

Now, when I say “far-right” I don’t mean anything like the American far-right which is relatively tame, I mean parties like the Golden Dawn party of Greece, which has more akin with Nazi’s than with Republicans, and I don’t say that lightly.

During one of its rallies, the party leader, Nikolaos Michaloliakos is quoted as saying, “We may do the Hitler salute, but at least our hands are clean.”

These parties have anti-semitic, anti-immigrant platforms that have earned them seats in the European Parliament. In the case of the Golden Dawn, they hold three of Greece’s 21 seats.

Hungary’s Jobbik party has another three seats. The National Democratic Party of Germany holds one seat in the European Parliament, and while they don’t have any seats, other parties like the New Right in Romania, the National Revival of Poland and the New Force in Italy all have surprising amounts of influence for being neo-Nazi parties.

These parties are a reminder that when we get scared, we are willing to act irrationally to feel safe.

Another great example of this is the Patriot Act, a law that has allowed the government to spy on whoever they want in the name of protecting our country from terrorism. When the bill was first passed, it was scene as a necessity to stop terrorist activity. But even now after we have found out what the government is doing, there are still people who will defend it as a necessity.

Social critic H.L. Mencken once wrote that “the average man does not want to be free. He simply wants to be safe.” I never used to believe this, but there are many examples of this. We shouldn’t value our safety over our freedom, and yet when we are afraid that is exactly what we do. We give up our freedoms so that we can feel protected.

Or do we? You see there are many examples where people give up their safety in order to be free. It wasn’t safe for Edward Snowden to attempt to reveal what the NSA was doing with the Patriot Act, but he did to ensure freedom for himself and the public.

In our literature, we see heroes who would sacrifice everything to be free, from “1984,” to “The Hunger Games.” We can’t allow ourselves to succumb to fear and sacrifice our freedom. We need to be free.

Alex Bertsch is the opinion editor for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected].