Fear of losing this year -- That's why there is so much rancor in our party.

[JDPriestly]

FDR once reminded Americans that all we have to fear is fear itself.

While reading one of those angry threads by supporters of one of our remaining candidates, I experienced an epiphany: the real reason that the Obamites and the Hillaryites are so angry about the nomination contest is that they are terrified (as are we all) -- that we Democrats will lose in November. And each side claims that we will lose if their candidate is not the nominee.

That's the surface fear. But, way, way, below that, way, way, down in their subconscious minds, in the parts that fear death, loss of a loved one and the end of the world and also flying, small spaces, animals, the freezing cold, loneliness, speaking in public and even embarrassment, there lurks another fear. It is deeper, hidden, but just as real. And that is the fear that Democrats will lose the election if their candidate is the nominee. And, of course, fearful supporters on each side are preparing an excuse for such a loss -- and that is that the other side did not support their candidate.

Face it. Our party has lost two successive presidential elections (or pronounced to have lost them by the MSM), and the results have been disastrous. We learned today that our government admits to holding 27,000 prisoners and depriving them of their rights. Our own rights have never been so endangered. Another Republican president will mean the overturn of Roe v. Wade and possibly even the end of the right to use birth control and privacy in general. Another Republican president will also mean endless war, endless, overwhelming debt and the eventual failure of our infrastructure. It will also mean the gradual domination of those of us without money by an ever stronger, ever more exclusive class of neo-nobles proclaiming, of course, the ideology of democracy and forcing us and our children and grandchildren to fight for their perversion of their ideology. So, our fear of yet another Republican president is not irrational.

I was born with a lot of fears. I won't bore you with the full list, but among them: claustrophobia (still working on it), animals and water. Fear, the kind that is deep and desperate, paralyzes you. So you have to overcome fears to survive. There is only one way to do it. You have to face each fear, picture and feel the reality in which you experience that fear, and figure out a strategy for taking control and overcoming your fear in that situation.

But before you can picture and feel your fear, you have to be utterly honest about what it is that you fear. If you fear water, is it the wetness, or maybe the fear of losing control in the water? Imagine yourself in the water. How does it feel? At what point do you begin to feel fear? How can you react? How should you react/ Practice thinking and feeling that moment through until you no longer experience the fear? Challenge yourself in the real world. Get in the water. Touch the cat or dog. Keep practicing.

We need to face the fact that what we are really afraid of is not that our favorite candidate won't win but that the Republicans will. We really fear another theft of the presidency.

Let's stop thinking Obama v. Hillary, Hillary v. Obama. If you are an Obama supporter and you fear a Hillary v. McCain contest, start thinking it through. If Hillary wins, what am I afraid of? How will I confront and get over that fear? If you are a Hillary supporter. Imagine for a moment that Obama gets the nomination. What is it that you are afraid of? How will you overcome that fear?

Obama's supporters feel confident that he will win. And it looks like they may be right. But his nomination is not certain. Let's face it. The contest is and has been very, very close. Between now and the convention, anything could happen. So, the result at this point is still uncertain. It is time to start confronting our real fear and to start planning our personal strategy to deal with it.

I, for one, having dealt with my own fear that my candidate, John Edwards, would not be the nominee, plan to start registering voters before the end of June. Regardless whether Hillary or Obama runs in the end, we have a lot of work to do. Every voter who has moved since the last election needs to re-register. This is the work we have to do. That is how we can win this election. And whether the candidate is Obama or Hillary, we need to win this election.