Using fear to Promote Political Views

What is with this political tactic of inciting fear to convince people not to vote for the candidate of the opposing party? I've heard both sides doing this. For example, the Conservative Talk Show Host method is to claim that Obama is a crazed liberal who will make deals with the leaders of terrorist groups and extremist nations while instituting full-fledged socialistic programs across the board following a rigid radical ideology. Democrats use the doomsday "polar ice caps will drown us" and "everyone on welfare will have their livelihood ripped from their grasp as republicans eliminate all social programs."

Making such allegations requires the acceptance of several falsehoods: 1) that our political candidates actually care about ideologies and not just about winning and getting into positions of power and fame. 2) that much will actually change with either "extreme liberal/conservative" in office. We've all heard before claims that a particular candidate will orchestrate a completely partisan regime upon entering office - and yet how many times do we end up having basically the same old same old? The difference between republicans and democrats in practice (not in ideology) is akin to the difference between the Lakers and the Celtics: different team colors, different players, different cities, but the same 'upstanding citizens' trying to avoid prison playing the same game. 3) that the current system of "scratch my back and I'll scratch your Bill on the floor of the House" isn't already corrupt as it is.

For the number of politicians that went to law school, it is despicable that they stoop to such elementary logic. Didn't they teach you about logical fallacies? We expect better than this, especially considering how so many of them got into Harvard/Stanford/Yale/Columbia through hard work and beating all odds and defying the norm of "rich get richer and privileged get privileged-er" (oh, wait, no).

We need to call them out when they use these scare tactics. Don't let yourself become another one of their marionettes.