 | abichara (60)
01/21/2004 |  Franklin Roosevelt made a very important point. He said this in his first inaugural in the middle of the Great Depression. Fear is something completely irrational. It keeps us from taking a balanced assessment of the issues at hand. Panic and rushes to judgement many times only make things worse. Today fear in public life remains a reality. Last night Bush gave his State of the Union Address where he must have said the words terrorism and weapons of mass murder about fifty times. The message was decidedly negative and was intended to scare the sh#$ out of the American people. Terrorism is a reality, but we can't let fear dictate our actions. The odds of us dying in a terrorist attack is very low; 1 and 3000. Obviously, if you live in a big city, the odds go up, but very little. Israel, Britain, Japan, most Middle Eastern and Latin American countries live with terrorism everyday. There's nothing new under the sun here. When we let fear take over our lives, we actually let our guards down. We've given the Bush Administration a carte blanche in foreign policy, but his forward strategy of imposing democracy in the Middle East is actually exacerbating the terrorist threat here and abroad. Terrorism is a concern indeed, it is a law enforcement issue that needs to be taken care of in conjunction with foreign government and American forces if need be. But I don't think it's necessary to scare the American people into action. We're not fools and we have a right to question our leadership. Of course, it's all about election year politics. Bush's strategy is to win re-election by saying that he's the only one who can handle national security. I can assure you he's not; I encourage everyone to look beyond the rhetoric and see things for what they are. Don't let fear take over your lives.
(5 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | Redoedo (39)
01/19/2004 | It was this message that endeared FDR to the American public at a time of great national peril. FDR really was blessed with the ability to communicate well with his constituents and give them a sense of hope in a period when it was scarce. Like all leaders, FDR made many mistakes, and I personally find his record as President to be a mixed bag, but I have to admire his unique ability to inspire an entire generation of American to give service to their country and help a neighbor in need. It was this message and his optimistic attitude that lead Americans to overcome their fear and engage in a national effort to end the Depression.
(3 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | JonTheMan (27)
01/11/2004 | Fear of different cultures, fear of new ideas, fear of compromise as if to seem weak and fear of things one does not understand have been the primary factors that have led men with the highest of moral standards to do the most evil of things.
(4 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
