This was published in Utah News Dispatch and while it is Utah focused, it does relate to the political moment more broadly. Here’s an excerpt:

“What we are watching in Utah is not new. It’s the state-level expression of a national political theology decades in the making — one that claims to fear authoritarianism while steadily normalizing it. Fear is politically useful. It can magnify perceived threats and recast the exercise of power as morally necessary.

We can laugh now at the moral panics of the past. In the 1980s, people warned that “Stairway to Heaven” contained satanic messages, that Smurfs were demonic, and unicorns were gateways to evil. Those claims seem absurd in hindsight. But the structure of the panic followed a familiar pattern: identify a perceived threat, amplify fear, and demand urgent action before it’s too late.

Moral panics weaponize a community’s best instincts. The desire to protect children, defend families, and safeguard what feels sacred is real and sincere. But panic hijacks those instincts. It redirects concern toward imagined or exaggerated threats, inflates urgency, and narrows moral vision. What begins as “we care about doing right” becomes “we must stop this group or idea before catastrophe strikes.” The intentions may be good. The outcomes often are not…”

Read more here: How fear-driven politics is reshaping courts and elections