DO YOU FEEL SAFE?

Do you feel safe and secure in your daily life?   If your instinctive answer is “yes, why not,” consider the following:

1. When you drop your kids off at their school or the bus stop do you worry about their safety?
2. When you go to the mall or the city are you hyper-aware of the presence of police or soldiers?
3. Does their presence comfort you, or does it remind you that danger could be nearby?
4. Are you apprehensive about travelling overseas?
5. Have you cancelled or considered cancelling such a trip?
6. As you walk the streets of a foreign country do you feel you “stick out” as American?  Do you feel vulnerable?
7. Are you cognizant of unattended packages, brief cases or suitcases?

For most people, the answers to some or all of the above questions would be “yes.”  At the very least, the level of unease or concern has ratcheted up substantially in recent years.  Terrorist attacks have grown in frequency almost to the point where when one occurs it is no longer a big surprise.

For instance, how many terrorist attacks would you guess there have been just since the beginning of July?   Ten? Twenty? One hundred?  Wrong, wrong and wrong.  According to Wikipedia there have been over 200 terrorist attacks since the beginning of July!  That’s more than one per day.  Furthermore, although they have been concentrated in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, there have been three in the US (Chattanooga, Colorado Springs and San Bernardino) and one in Paris.  All of the perpetrators were Islamic Terrorist individuals or groups, except for the attack in Colorado Springs by a deranged “lone wolf” American.   Furthermore, the three on American soil were perpetrated by Americans.

The list of Islamic perpetrators reads like a “Who’s Who” of terrorists: Aba Sayyaf, Al Shabaab, Boko Haram, ISIS, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the New People’s Army, and the Taliban.   Most of these attacks have not even received widespread news coverage.

Welcome to the “new normal.”  The question is no longer if there will be another terrorist attack, but when and where it will occur and by whom.

CONCLUSION

With respect to the upcoming Presidential election, we all have issues that are important to us – the economy, unemployment, immigration, abortion, and climate change, to name a few.   For some of us, one of these may be so paramount that it has become the “litmus test” issue, and we decide for whom to vote based solely on it.

Irrespective of the foregoing, I submit that the most important issue for all of us, by far, should be our safety and security.  The most important job of our President is to keep us safe and secure, to protect us from our enemies both foreign and domestic.  Our very way of life depends on it.  If he were to fail at that, nothing else would matter.

We all have our political preferences and, by extension, our preferred candidates.  But, I submit that in 2016 we must put political ideology aside and vote for the candidate that we feel will keep us safe and secure.   This is especially crucial in this age when many countries, some of which are controlled by unstable leaders (e.g. North Korea and Iran), possess or will soon possess nuclear capability.  Personally, I have not yet decided who that person will be, but I know who it is WILL NOT be.   It will not be Hillary Clinton.

My opinion is not based on political preference.  Rather, I ask myself, as you should, is our relationship with ANY country better today than it was seven years ago?   I cannot think of one instance where it is.  Can you?  If so, I would like to know which one(s).  If you are honest with yourself, the answer has to be “no.”

It is the Obama-Clinton regime that has gotten us into the current mess.   Clinton may try to distance herself from Obama, but make no mistake about it.  She was an integral part of this Administration’s policy development and decision-making.

1. They have allowed ISIS and other terror groups to metastasize to the point where they are terrorizing the entire world.
2. They have allowed Russia to regain its former power and influence in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
3. They have pushed through a deal with Iran that will allow it to become a nuclear power soon.
4. They have allowed China to hack our computer systems with impunity and pilfer top secret information.

To paraphrase a timeworn political slogan:  Do you feel safer today than you did seven years ago?   For me, the answer is a resounding “no.”   It’s past time for a change.