The recent column by Carrie Moore in WHT, “Leadership needed more that ever,” illustrates the fear mongering being conducted by the Republican presidential candidates and endlessly repeated in the media. She has become frightened by the recent terrorist incidents and the hyperbolic rhetoric of the far right that the Muslims are coming to get us.
The recent column by Carrie Moore in WHT, “Leadership needed more that ever,” illustrates the fear mongering being conducted by the Republican presidential candidates and endlessly repeated in the media. She has become frightened by the recent terrorist incidents and the hyperbolic rhetoric of the far right that the Muslims are coming to get us.
Those of us old enough to remember WWII and the cold war are not afraid of the Islamic terrorists. Your chances of being killed by an Islamic terrorist are infinitesimal compared to the real risks of car accidents, airplane crash or being killed by a sick person with a gun or a domestic terrorist. None of the Islamist terrorists have come close to the level of Timothy McVeigh, who killed 168 people because of hate for government.
Remember Ebola? Another fear that was amplified out of proportion. Two people died of Ebola in the United States. But for months Republican fearmongers like Chris Christie tried to paralyze the country with fear.
The Republican presidential candidates all have great plans for eliminating ISIS but they have not bothered to tell us how they would do it. They have lots of slogans like “carpet bomb” (Cruz), “make the military so strong that no one would mess with us” (Trump), etc. The few sensible candidates are being overwhelmed by the big talkers.
They insist that America is in a mess and they know how to fix it, like cutting taxes (upper incomes), balancing the budget, greatly increasing the military budget, removing government regulations, repealing health care, etc. By constantly repeating that America is weak, not fighting ISIS, has stupid leadership and generally in a mess, they create fear and then offer slogans that they can fix and “make America great again.”
Well, America is great and strong after recovering from the Great Recession created by Republicans under George W. Bush. America is aggressively decimating ISIS under the leadership of Obama. Jihadi John is one of the latest to go to his maker. ISIS will be destroyed not by big talk but by determined and persistent military action that is now being applied.
Instead of war President Obama has chosen the path of diplomacy where it is feasible. The Iran nuclear program, which was far more dangerous than ISIS, has been disabled. The Republicans candidates hate the agreement and the candidates would have preferred force (war) to disable the Iranian nuclear program. Of course, none of them have ever served in the military so they think war is a viable option.
The Republican plan is to create fear and run down America so they can get elected and people like Carrie Moore seem to believe them. Declaring war on Muslims is not the answer, there are a couple of billion peaceful Muslims. We need steady, intelligent leadership to continue and improve our current policies to keep America great.
Jerry Smith is a resident of North Kohala
My Turn opinions are those of the writer and not West Hawaii Today.