Immigration, the Estate Tax, and the politics of fear.

Many Americans fear that on the day that they die, the taxman will come knocking at their family’s door. But as with children’s natural fear of the dark, the fear of the death tax has been increased with tales. The estate tax is complicated and intimidating. It needs serious reform. And I support repeal.

But we need certainty in this area. So we need a deal that can garner 60 votes. We need to provide predictability and relief for taxpayers like ranchers and farmers in Montana.

But the fact of the matter is: 99 times out of a hundred, the tale is worse than the tax. Less than one percent of all estates are currently subject to estate tax.

While I cannot agree that we need to repeal the Estate Tax, what I can agree with is that both situations involve the fear of the unknown. And yet, instead of resssuring people, the Republicans opportunistically exploit these fears of the unknown. The level of our discourse is thus dragged down to the lowest common denominator. People are taught to look at a Latino and think, "Illegal Immigrant." People are taught to think that the government actively reads the obituaries and plots to take away everyone's inheritance.

But humanity is now engaged in a path of discovery and understanding that will allow it to transcend the fears of the past and render scaremongers like Rush Limbaugh impotent and irrelevant. We are progressing to the point where we celebrate our diversity, not fear it. We are responding to the threat of global warming as a wakeup call to radically change the way we think and act and see the world around us.

A healthy way to respond to these fears is to take them on as challenges -- challenges to stretch our understanding and empathy. Rather than shunning people, we should embrace them. Rather than sticking to the same tired old politics as usual, we should look for new and different ways of doing things and test them by what works, rather than some rigid ideological prism.

And there is something else that helps as well -- if fear is a person, then fear is happiest when you are alone. When you are alone, you are a prisoner of these fears. But when you talk to other people about your fears and concerns, then the fears will be addressed and conquered. For instance, a lot of immigrants do not compete with American workers for jobs, but they generally seek different jobs than the ones that we seek. Estate tax liabilities can be greatly reduced through careful planning if you happen to be one of the unlucky 1% who are subject to that.