How do You Propose Americans Stay Safe at Home?

The Editors 

This week, FamilySecurityMatters.org launched our year-long Safe at Home initiative. While national security should be at the top of the priority list for our elected leaders and other public servants, there is much that the average citizen can do to create a safe environment for not only his family, but also his community.

Reader response to our first in the series has been terrific, with many of you writing to us at editorialdirector@familysecuritymatters.org to let us know not only how our series inspires you, but also with a few ideas as to what we as citizens can do to make ourselves and our society a safer, more secure place to live, work, and raise our families.

As we learned in our first interview with Stephen Flynn, self-reliance is important:

We need to talk about the civic virtue of essentially taking care of ourselves, becoming more self-reliant. That is, when things go wrong, there aren’t going to be enough professionals to go round and they need to help the people most in danger first. The rest of us should be self-sufficient enough that we can ride out three days, so we’re not part of the problem.

Our history is rich with stories of independence and self-reliance exhibited by our forefathers. Whether it was cutting the apron strings of England, tilling the soil in the Midwest, or traveling across the nation in covered wagons for the greener pastures of the West, Americans have always had a “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” attitude that made us different from our European cousins, whose existences were often contingent upon the fatuous whims of their monarchs.

Unfortunately, many young people today know little, if anything, about such stories because they are no longer being taught in school.

Have we, as Americans, forgotten our independent streak? Do we really want the government to “take care of us” in every way? Or do we still value the words immortalized in our Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…

And so it remains up to us – are we up to the task?

How about you? Do you have a story you’d like to share about how you took the initiative to create a safer environment for your family or your community? We’d like to hear about it! Please send your stories to editorialdirector@familysecuritymatters.org. The most inspiring one chosen by our panel of judges will be published on FamilySecurityMatters.org, and the winner will also receive the item of his choice from our exclusive FamilySecurityMatters.org gear. To be considered for publication, all submissions must be received by February 29, 2008.*
 

A safe America begins at home. Let’s get to work! 

*The published winning entry will become the copyrighted property of FamilySecurityMatters.org.