Be not afraid Republicans - Americans have never been safer - Obama is correct

[AmericanFirst]

Be Not Afraid.
When President Obama tells Americans to stop worrying, he’s accused of fecklessness. But he has a point: we have never been safer. JONATHAN RAUCH. FEB 16 2015, 8:08 PM ET

Be Not Afraid The Atlantic


Obama said last August: “I promise you things are much less dangerous now than they were 20 years ago, 25 years ago, or 30 years ago. This is not something that is comparable to the challenges we faced during the Cold War.”

Some excerpts to lead thinking people to read the entire article and discuss it because in reality Obama is right - Americans are now living in a world that is much safer than it was twenty years ago at least.

Obama is presiding over the most peaceful time in human history. All the violence in Iraq is still about half of what it was in 2006 except now Americans are not being killed in large numbers there.

"War between major nation-states has dwindled to the verge of extinction"

. According to Steven Pinker, the author of The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, today is probably the most peaceful time in human history. By the numbers, he writes, “the world was a far more dangerous place” in the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s. According to the Uppsala Conflict Data Program, armed conflicts have declined by almost 40 percent since right after the end of the Cold War. “Today,” write Micah Zenko and Michael A. Cohen in Foreign Affairs, “wars tend to be low-intensity conflicts that, on average, kill about 90 percent fewer people than did violent struggles in the 1950s.” War between major nation-states has dwindled to the verge of extinction. In the context of human evolution, this is an astounding development.

Criminal violence is way down but Americans celebrate this extraordinary success by denying it:

. Here at home, criminal violence is, as ever, a serious problem. But its reduction over the past couple of decades is one of the great success stories of our time. The violent-crime rate (which excludes homicides) has declined by more than 70 percent since the early 1990s. The homicide rate has declined by half, and in 2011 it reached the lowest level since 1963. According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, between 1995 and 2010 the rate of rape and sexual assault fell from five per 1,000 females to two.

And how do Americans celebrate this extraordinary success? By denying it.

"As for the risk posed by terrorism inside the United States, .... Americans are about four times as likely to drown in their bathtub as they are to die in a terrorist attack:

.Perception is even more skewed where terrorism is concerned. “Terror-ism Worries Largely Unchanged,” ran another Pew headline, also in 2013. That year, 58 percent of the public was worried about another terrorist attack in the United States, a rate not all that much lower in October 2001, immediately after the 9/11 attacks, when 71 percent of the public was worried. A few months ago, perhaps influenced by ISIS’s atrocities, a large plurality of respondents told NBC News/Wall Street Journal pollsters that the country is less safe than it was before 9/11.

Reality, once again, tells us otherwise. State-sponsored international terrorism, writes the intelligence analyst Paul R. Pillar in Cato’s A Dangerous World?, “is today only a shadow of what it was in the 1970s and 1980s.” As for the risk posed by terrorism inside the United States, to characterize it as trivial would be very generous. Americans are about four times as likely to drown in their bathtub as they are to die in a terrorist attack. John Mueller of Ohio State University and Mark G. Stewart of Australia’s University of Newcastle estimate the odds of such deaths at one in 950,000 and one in 3.5 million, respectively.

Can any matter-of-factly dispute the finding mentioned in this article?

More lies from obuthole believed by idiots.

 

[Harry Dresden]

maybe from outside but what about in the Country?....things seem to be getting worse ....

Why not read the article - it is very well explained on that topic early on.

maybe from outside but what about in the Country?....things seem to be getting worse ....

Why not read the article - it is very well explained on that topic early on.

i did read it.....crime has been going down since the 90's so that is not because of Obama.....animosity among the people is rising.....and this President has said some things that are not thought out very well... things that have not helped in this matter.....

 

[rightwinger]

Where would Republicans be without giving Americans something to fear?

 

[pismoe]

I'm not worried or afraid but I am annoyed to see what mrobama is doing to the USA . As an American I hate seeing this great country meekly going where mrobama is taking it . But I have no fear , I think that it'll be the younger generation and people that have supported mrobama that should be afraid for their and their kids future though !!

 

[usmcstinger]

The Middle East is going to hell in a hand basket.
The Boston Marathon Bombing should have been avoided as well as the Fort Hood Massacre. Safer?

 

[Camp]

The World was very much at peace in 1935-1938. The "War to end all Wars" was over and no such war was ever going to occur again.

Hitler had only 30 million Germans. Iran has 77 million...they are led by mullahs who are just as crazy as Hitler....they are sitting on a mountain of oil, and will likely have a nuclear bomb before the fool Obama leaves office.

Nevile Chamberlain went to see Hitler and came home with a piece of paper which he announced secured "peace in our time."

Obama and that fool Kerry are about to show us a similar piece of paper from the mullahs.

I have children. What about Peace in their Time?

The world wasn't really at peace when you say it was. Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935. One could argue those were the seeds that led to WWII.

 

[blackhawk]

"Historians will thank him, even if we don’t, for his steadfastness in the face of unprecedented safety."

BH 11067099

If so you will forgive me if I question his word on this.

Not asking you to accept Obama's word on this. I was hoping for signs of intelligent life out there that would read the article and respond with an argument against the data and facts cited in the report that confirms that what Obama said is in fact true.

The last paragraph expresses well what I am certain will Obama's legacy despite all the social media and news media and political fear mongering that goes on. Fear sells and helps win elections. And now ironically more than ever when reasons to be afraid are at all time lows.

"Still, now is special. Given how safe we are, and how frightened people nonetheless feel, it seems unlikely that Americans’ threat perception has ever before been quite as distorted as it is today. Never have so many feared so little, so much. In an era of overreaction, a president who lectures the public about its insecurities, instead of pandering to its fears, necessarily seems impolitic, out of touch, tone-deaf, pedantic, negligent, complacent—choose your adjective. For precisely that reason, we can be grateful his instinct is to underreact. Historians will thank him, even if we don’t, for his steadfastness in the face of unprecedented safety."

Oh please your just giving us partisan talking points for a president you like if we had a Republican president with the world in the shape it is right now I doubt you or anyone would've praising him for how safe we are.

 

[NotfooledbyW]

I'm not worried or afraid but I am annoyed to see what mrobama is doing to the USA . As an American I hate seeing this great country meekly going where mrobama is taking it

Where is Obama meekly taking America in your own mind? Do you have any specifics that you have in mind?

 

[NotfooledbyW]

HD 11067635

did read it.....crime has been going down since the 90's so that is not because of Obama.....

No one is saying that violent crime in the US went down because of Obama. You could not have read the article if you have an impression that it suggested that? Crime has gone down but polling tells us that the public perception is year after year is that violent crime is going up,

 

[NotfooledbyW]

BH 11067990

Oh please your just giving us partisan talking points for a president you like if we had a Republican president with the world in the shape it is right now I doubt you or anyone would've praising him for how safe we are.

That is not true at all. You are avoiding a discussion based upon the content of that article. I supported Bush taking military action in Afghanistan and continue to support our mission there. I didn't support him taking his eye off the ball there in order to kick UN inspectors out of a Iraq and invade Iraq. I did however fully support Bush in September and October 2002 in requesting the US Congress to give him authority to use military force to in order to coerce the UN and Iraq to get WMD I inspections resumed because after the 9/11 attacks it was important to find out if WMD was being produced in Iraq as a matter of international law. It is only because Iraq let the inspectors back in that I am certain Bush was entirely wrong to invade when UN inspectors were reaching the conclusion that was ultimately reached. There were no WMD active for military use there or programs to produce them.

I look at things on their own merit regardless of Party of the President.

President HW Bush did a very good job on getting Iraq's army out of Kuwait and the NFZs were a good way of containing S.Hussein specifically regarding the Kurds. It was good policy and should not have been abandoned for invasion instead.

 

[pismoe]

hey NotFooled , well immigration and diversity of all sorts , wussie 'cic' , mandated health insurance , kowtowing to despots in iran and the muslim world . Decimation of the USA military and its American officer corps . That's just a little bit 'Not Fooled ' and like I say , it doesn't worry or scare me as I think that it'll be mrobama supporters and their kids that will pay sometime in the next few years!!

 

[NotfooledbyW]

NF 11068071

Where is Obama meekly taking America in your own mind?

pism 11068330

hey NotFooled , well immigration.

So you disagree with Obama's immigration policy - but how is that "Obama meekly taking America" somewhere that makes you annoyed. You are a Republican - everything about Obama probably annoys you, but what does that have to do with the fact that Americans have never lived in a safer time in terms of criminal, violence, terrorism and wars involving Americans. Reagan did similar immigration policy. Were you around to be annoyed then?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

If you like your plan you can keep it

You'll save $2,500 by switching to ObamaCAre

 

[Dot Com]

Thank you Mr. President

Conversely, this is how it used to be under his Repub Predecessor CrusaderFrank :

 

[pismoe]

hey NotFooled , hey look I answered , the USA is messed up , especially these last 6 years followed by another 2 because mrobama is just going to continue with his ways . I'm not a 'repub' , can't really stand them , I am a Conservative / small L libertarian . I've been around politics for 50 years , been aware and concerned from Clinton onward . I approved of Reagans amnesty because we were told that it was 5 million people and it would be the first and last time an amnesty would happen . And , a wall would be built . Reagans fault for sure but my theory is that Reagan was too heavily influenced by his vice president . ghw boosh .

 

[NotfooledbyW]

NF 11068071

Where is Obama meekly taking America in your own mind?

pism 11068330

hey NotFooled , kowtowing to despots in iran

So you disagree with US UK France Russia China and Germany's and UN sanctions that have brought Iran to the verge of a deal that opens Iran up to IAEA inspectors and decreases Iran's ability to break out from peaceful uranium production to weapons grade production from 3 months to 12 months - but how is that "Obama meekly taking America" somewhere that makes you annoyed. That 12 month breakout time improves the ability to bomb Iran's facilities which Obama says he would do if Iran violates the deal. And the next President is free to bomb Iran also if it violates the arms control agreement over the next ten to fifteen years.

 

[pismoe]

anyway NotFooled , country has grown by about 130 million since about 1970 . I dislike the growth but can live with it for my lifetime and in the areas that I move about in . The problem is going to be in jobs , lack of money for mrobamas supporters and their kids in my opinion . Competition is going to be stiff for even low paying jobs . I think that mrobama supporters are getting exactly what they deserve .

 

[pismoe]

I think that 'iran' should be Crushed and destroyed by sanctions and possible war while they are weak and being hurt by Sanctions 'Notfooled' . When iran wants a deal they should come crawling to the USA . USA and Israel should stand together with other western nations and isolate iran for as long as it takes . Iran is a muslim nation and is dishonest and practices 'taqiya' and other Islamic concepts that can't be trusted by westerners . mrobama supporters are just naïve as they think that a nation like iran , a sharia state can be dealt with using agreements .

 

[pismoe]

violence , terrorism and wars , I don't mind any of them 'NF', I just think when any of those 3 things happen that they should be fought against by America until the enemy is destroyed by America !!

 

[Harry Dresden]

Where would Republicans be without giving Americans something to fear?

the Democrats try and scare ya too RW......