Heightened Awareness, Elections and Leadership in
America
I have written and published two books to raise
the awareness of the American public about two critical issues that
clearly affect the survival of our country. One book discusses our
water supply and water availability. The other explains the
terrorist threat to our water supply and water infrastructure. These
issues have very little to do with politics and, yet, both are very
much political footballs. Neither issue is discussed or even
understood by the general public or elected leaders.
The other night I watched Glenn Beck’s program
on CNN. He noted that terrorism is truly a survival issue in America
today, with which I definitely agree. He commented about the
political rhetoric that is so prevalent. His solution was that we,
Americans, need to get past the rhetoric and vote for the best
candidate for the job.
But how do we do this? The 60 second sound bite
is king. Can we learn all we need to know about a candidate’s
position in that 60 second period of time? According to the media,
we can.
Worse yet, we do not seem to be able to discern
between social issues and true survival issues. Many issues on the
news today may be important social issues but are not issues that
affect our ability to survive as a country. Abortion is an important
social and moral issue, having clean water to drink is a survival
issue. True survival issues include water, food, energy and public
safety.
For example, in my book Understanding Water
Rights and Conflicts, Second Edition, I explore issues involving
water quality, quantity and availability in the western United
States and globally. My purpose for this book was to help readers
understand issues that we all face about a substance we can not live
without. Having or not having clean, safe water is a survival issue.
Without sufficient clean water, we can not live more than a few
days, nor can we have food to eat.
As a board member of a small water district
located west of Denver Colorado, I am familiar with the challenges
of supplying safe water to our consumers every month. We openly
invite our customers to attend board meetings and give us their
input. Very few ever do. They only respond if there is a problem. A
rate increase or no water coming out of the faucet elicits a
response. They know next to nothing about the water system that
serves this life giving fluid to their homes. They depend upon us,
the five elected members of the water board to uphold their best
interests. As an elected board member, I am flattered by their
confidence. However, I do think they would be better served knowing
more about their water supply and water supply system.
It is the same with terrorism. My book
Understanding Water and Terrorism is an introduction to the
potential threat to our water infrastructure by terrorists. However,
terrorism is another topic not widely read or understood by the
general public and the media. It has become the subject of the 60
second sound bite as well as a volatile political issue. Our water
supply is a very real and plausible target of terrorism.
As far back as 1941, Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) director J. Edgar Hoover wrote;
“Among public utilities, water supply facilities
offer a particularly vulnerable point of attack ...”
For our safety, public education about our
water system and supply is almost a requirement for water suppliers
in the United States. As noted in an American Water Works
Association report,
“In many cities and small towns, the public is
the first line of defense, serving as an extra set of eyes watching
over key utility assets such as tanks, reservoirs and even fire
hydrants.”
First responders and security experts agree the
higher the level of awareness of the general public about the issue
of terrorism, the better our chances of preventing or at least
mitigating the next attack. As public awareness increases,
disinformation, rumor, paralysis and “knee-jerk” reaction decreases
in a crisis.
Only heightened public awareness of issues like
energy, water and terrorism will really make a difference to the
survival of this country. While very few of us need to be experts, a
good working knowledge about these extremely important topics allows
us to exchange meaningful ideas and question the experts and
leadership. For some reason our politicians are unwilling to lead
us. So the general public needs to take the lead. Need we continue
to be puerile about these issues?
Sadly, it seems to me that our country’s
leadership actually reflects us very well. We all seem to want
instant answers and quick fixes. It seems that both major political
parties, Republicans and Democrats, are more motivated by self
interest than whether America survives as a country. The latest
public outcry is often designed to deflect our attention away from
key survival issues. The economic bottom line seems to be the most
important issue in our lives and our society.
Worse, we do not seem to realize the need to
know more about these critical survival issues. We seem to be
satisfied with the information contained in 60 second sound bites,
unwilling to make an effort to become informed to have meaningful
discussions, find viable solutions and insuring that we can maintain
our way of life.
Further, our elected leaders apparently want to
keep the public unaware and uneducated about these survival issues.
They run campaign advertisements and sound bites in order to get
re-elected. When they are interviewed on radio and television, there
is no discussion about educating the public or trying to raise the
awareness of their constituents. Many of our elected leaders seem to
know as little as we do about these vital survival issues and can
parrot back only the “party line” as meaningful discussion.
An aware public with a good working knowledge
about energy, water and terrorism would not tolerate candidates and
elected leadership in this country who refuse to deal with these
survival issues. They would know that if these critical issues are
not addressed and effective long term solutions implemented by both
an educated leadership and an aware public, there will be no
economic bottom line to sustain.
To Your Success,
H. Court Young
Author and Publisher
October 2006
H. Court Young is a freelance writer, author and publisher. He has written 3 books
on water and terrorism. He uses a laptop computer to write at the
local Barnes and Noble Bookstore where they have high speed internet
connectivity.
He has been a computer consultant and network specialist since
his first computer purchase in 1977. He is very interested in
technology and in particular laptop computers.
You can find more books, articles and information
by Mr. Young at his publishing company website:
BurgYoung
Publishing
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