AN IGNORANT QUESTION

“What Would You Do If …?”

In case you missed it, both the Republicans and the Democrats are holding “debates” to sell people on who is the best candidate for the next President of the United States. These debates are held in public forums with a moderator from the news reporting media. At some point during the “debate” the moderator will ask one of the most asinine questions ever uttered by a supposedly intelligent person: What would you do about another terrorist attack on the US?

To illustrate how robotic each candidate is, not one candidate will put an end to this silly question by stating that, Americans don’t live in fear of “what ifs”. The real threat comes from those who use fear to manipulate the government and legal system to reduce the freedom of all US citizens. To quote FDR: “There is nothing to fear but fear itself.” The US needs the media to stop playing the fear card and instead play “the future is exciting” card.

The US, just as other democratic civilizations in bygone eras, can expect to be attacked by those who want to dominate and rule “free” cultures. And these attacks on the US didn’t just start on 9/11/2001. There was the British invasion of Washington, DC in 1812 (including the Battle of New Orleans after a truce had been declared), the attacks on US merchant ships by the pirates off Tripoli (that led to President Jefferson creating the US Marines), the sinking of non-military US ships by German warships prior to World War I, the attack on Pearl Harbor, the hostile takeover of the USS Pueblo, the bombing of the US Embassy in Lebanon and numerous other incidents of kidnapping and murder, the unfortunate result of collateral damage.

But, world terrorism is not our biggest homeland security worry. The majority of our worst terrorists are home grown, using handguns and assault rifles to attack and kill thousands of Americans every year. According to the NY Times, over ONE MILLION Americans have been killed by gun toting criminals and deranged family members over the past 30 years. That’s more deaths than all the casualties of all wars fought by US soldiers over the past 200 years. For children under 16 years of age, only deaths by auto accidents and cancer outnumber the deaths due to handguns (legal and illegal). Think about it: is there ever a week that doesn’t end or begin where some gunman enters a building/house and kills multiple victims?

The real threat to the future of the US is its domestic policies. Healthcare is undermining employment; it is getting much more difficult for men over 50 to find high-wage employment as employers don’t want the added burden of higher insurance costs. According to the US Department of Labor less than half (48 percent) of men ages 55 to 65 are working full-time, down from nearly 70 percent 20 years ago. Healthcare has already reduced the manufacturing workforce by over 70 percent since the 1980’s.

Retirement is becoming more elusive as Social Security and Medicare become increasingly more fragile. The fastest growing bankruptcy filings are among those over 65 (mostly because of medical bills and medication needs). According to Fidelity Research Institute, among the top three reasons that prevented 58 percent of working Americans from saving for retirement needs were paying basic living expenses and paying off credit card debt. Less than half (44 percent) feel they will have a financially stable retirement.

Finally, there is the entire issue of consumption versus conservation. Everyone acknowledges that the consumption of petroleum products cannot continue at the current rate. Higher fuel prices will eventually limit the ability of people to maintain a quality standard of living. Yet, candidates on both sides stammer when asked what his or her plan would be to create a more energy-efficient society.

For the sake of our culture and society it is time to stop focusing on “what-ifs” and fear mongering and begin addressing real needs.

Follow-Up: Elite Students

In the June 14, 2007 issue of USA Today, the editorial dealt with the discrepancies between state and federal reading and math test results. In the discussion, one of the solutions was to forego the challenge of having every student achieve the same results: “Making ‘every’ child proficient in math and reading by 2014 is a nice political soundbite, but it’s about as realistic as Garrison Keillor’s Lake Webegon, ‘where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking and all the children are above average.’”

Concentrating limited resources on the very best students will yield the most favorable results that benefit everyone.

Reading Is Fundamental Even For the Wealthy

According to USA Today research, the 2008 Lexus LS600h L owner's manual is 1097 pages! (A Kia Rio is 256 pages). Compare that volume of reading with its unending pages of technical understanding to entertainment such as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (784 pages) or Gone With The Wind (960 pages) and it's easy to understand why everyone should have reading comprehension at the college graduate level.

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