Security - What’s the Concern?

Security is a feeling - a sense that we are safe. And security is the opposite of terror, or being afraid. At its most basic, terrorism is the act of creating the feeling of fear and destroying the feeling of being safe.

 

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Since 9/11 - Physical fear
Economic security of our nation
Military security and security through international politics and diplomacy

Security is made up of many factors. WomenMatter pays attention to several of these as they connect with each other in obvious and sometimes less obvious ways. In each category, different individuals may think about security differently. Those concerns are presented with equal, sympathetic treatment.

Since 9/11 - Physical fear

Many Americans took safety for granted until September 11, 2001. Since then, we are aware of our physical vulnerability and take differing views on what should be done to increase security.

Thought: I want to feel protected from physical harm.

Response: No one can offer absolute protection to anyone all the time. We live with the odds, just as we live with tornadoes.

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Economic security of our nation

Fear itself is hurting many people’s jobs, especially jobs in tourism and transportation.

Thought: How can I ever know if my job is secure? What protection can I have if my job goes away?

Response: Checklist for Economic Security: Information that we need to get for ourselves.

• What does the business press and the stock market project about the future of my job?
• What investment is being made to upgrade and/or protect the facility where I work?
• What should I ask from my representatives in government?
• Can I have health care if I lose my job?
• Is my education current enough to keep me in the job market? Is there any assistance to help me stay up to date?
• Can I or can my current employer buy insurance that would pay me for a while, if my job goes away? Is there a role for government in this kind of insurance?

Our national government has a responsibility for the value of our economy in which we all work and pay taxes. It makes a difference whether we as a nation spend more than we take in, either in taxes or in trade with other nations. Much of our security is a result of the economic policies of our governments, local, state, and federal.

It makes a difference whether our dollars are worth more or less when we go to buy goods. In addition to the net worth of our currency, our national budget or balance sheet has a net worth. A deficit of 2 - 3% (spending more than we sell or take in) is not a problem. More than that means that we will have to borrow a great deal of money and, therefore, spend money just to pay the interest or service on the loan from those who lent to us. To get people and governments of other nations to lend to us we will have to offer them higher interest rates --- which, of course, means that our mortgages and car loans and taxes will all go up.

These economic conditions affect our personal sense of security:

Benefits:

• Social Security: will there be money in the Treasury to pay for my retirement or for my parents?
• Will there be health benefits for myself, my parents, or my children? Anyone can get sick anytime.

The support of growth industries:

• Funding research
• Allowing taxes to be lower for investment in new ideas
• Encourage investment through tax credits

Supporting growth industries with good prospects (technology such as nanotechnology and genetics) can help the economy to grow. It worked when the Internet was founded with Defense Department tax dollars.

Other areas of economic security:

• Is information that I can count on easily available either as an investor, a worker, or a consumer?
• Does the Federal Reserve provide interest rates to banks (monetary policy) that make new borrowing for new investments reasonably secure?
• Do the Congress and the administration keep taxes at a high enough level that we can pay for our entitlements and spend our tax dollars to increase the factors that make us more secure in a competitive global economy? (Fiscal policy).
• Currently taxes would have to go up 78% to pay for our current commitments voted in by the administration and the majority in the Congress.
• Special employment questions for an unknown future:
  - Will I have unemployment insurance?
  - Will I have health insurance?
  - If I lose my job and have to take one at lower pay, can I average my income tax over several years rather than just one at a time?
  

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Military security and security through international politics and diplomacy

What are the limits of our or anyone’s ability to prevent every terrorist attack on Americans at home or abroad?

Terrorism, that is, the creation of fear, is no longer necessarily the product of nations with borders, but rather is nationless and borderless.

National governments, however, can try, either separately or together, to contain or destroy terrorists before, during, or after they strike. The history of relationships among national governments makes a difference in their willingness to help each other and to take risks together.

• Are other countries willing to join with us?
• We can’t trust others - we have to go it alone.
• How much can military power really do?
• Is military power the only power "bad guys" understand?
• "Bad" guys and "evil" will never really go away. From time to time we need to make deals with unhappy groups through offering economic support and trading favors with other governments.
• Should we rely on government or on private organizations to protect our water supply, our nuclear plants, our trains and planes and tunnels?
• Should we spend our resources on prevention or on help after an attack?

DON’T OVERSIMPLIFY IT FOR ME WITH PROMISES THAT CANNOT BE KEPT.

WOMENMATTER IS INTO REALITY.