Mr. Bush says, "America is safer, but we are not yet safe". I want my country to be not just safer or safe, but the safest place to live on Earth.
Being safe means being free from harm. There are the usual things in our everyday lives that can threaten our safety......like disease, crime, accidents.....but I guarantee you, we, the people, all do our personal best to keep those at bay, as we work, pay our taxes, raise our families, pay our bills, try to plan for the future, etc. All of that takes up pretty much of our time, energy and emotional strength.
But there are some bigger things that we, personally, cannot do. We, ourselves, cannot: keep our kids out of wars; guard against being blown out of the air by a bomb; repair our infrastructure; clean our air; fix our levees; take care of our country's poor; help the world's children; uphold and defend our Constitution; make new laws for the good of the people; maintain our respect in the World; see that all of us have healthcare; decide a reasonable, humane solution to illegal immigration; etc.
So what we do is, we HIRE people to do all of that through our elections. We, the people, have been doing our very best with our own responsibilities; our hires have fallen far short in doing their best with their responsibilities, and maybe they just can't or won't.
What do we need to be safest? We need to do a lot of new hiring! And we should be looking for: representatives who cater to us not to dishonest people with lots of cash and no moral compass; senators who will refuse to base campaigns on promises they know cannot be kept; administrators who are honest, intelligent, well-informed, open to ideas; not easily led and who will choose their advisors wisely.
We got the present crew via an electorate who may have been poorly or ill-informed, one-issue voters whose major reason for their choice may have been fear. Sure, we all have fears but we have to get smart, folks. Let's not fall into the Conservative vs Liberal; Democrat vs Republican; name-calling traps. Let's grow up! Get informed; read; watch some NEWS SHOWS; know the issues and the candidates; discuss; question and, if any of the applicants who interview for the jobs we need filled, try to get hired simply by playing on our fears, maybe fear is all they have to offer.
America will be safest when we, the people, can go back to our lives and our responsibilities with faith and confidence that our newly hired bi-partisan, intelligent, competent, thoughtful team in Washington will work hard and honestly for the money we are paying them. But, they need to know......we'll be watching!