In today’s edition of insights, we draw attention to domestic terrorism, foreign-policy issues, and climate change. Insights on gun violence rising along with domestic terrorism, the requirement of stronger foreign policy and reponses, engagement with china, and the American belief in climate change. Read the insights below, and, of course, we encourage you to read the articles in full and inform yourself on these important issues:
“Two mass shootings within 24 hours in El Paso and Dayton, days after the Garlic Festival killings. Three months after Virginia Beach, six months after Aurora, nine months after Thousand Oaks, 10 months after Tree of Life, 15 months after Santa Fe High School, 18 months after Parkland and in the wake of larger horrors like the Vegas concert and Pulse nightclub massacres... God save us all, sir. People all across the nation are scared; many feel like the country is spinning out of control. They’re looking to their leaders for more than prayers. America is terrified.” - NY Post, MORE
“Violence committed by white men inspired by an extremist ideology makes up a growing number of domestic terrorism cases, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Of about 850 current domestic terrorism cases, 40% involve racially motivated violent extremism and a majority of those cases involve white supremacists, the FBI said…Preventing—and understanding—such crimes has been vexing for federal law-enforcement officials, who in recent years had been more focused on the threat posed by radical Islam and homegrown terrorists who pledge fealty to Islamic State.” - Dan Frosch, Zusha Elinson and Sadie Gurman, Wall Street Journal, MORE
“More than 75 percent of mass shooters have alerted others to their plans, according to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security report. Nicole Hockley [TCG Past Speaker], mother of slain son Dylan, killed in Newtown, CT, co-founder of Sandy Hook Promise, urged community members to speak up if they suspect someone might be planning an act of violence. ‘It is critical to know that there are signs - like a hate manifesto, social media posts, and notable fascination with guns - that point to increased potential for violence. We must stay vigilant and say something when we see these warning signals.’” - Julia Perkins, CT Post, MORE
“Today, the United States doesn’t need a grand [foreign policy] strategy. Instead, U.S. leaders need to identify their priorities and craft strategies for each of them. The foreign-policy issues that matter to the lives of Americans—from climate change to pandemic diseases to cyberattacks—increasingly require global responses. And leaders need to convince the American people that these challenges affect them directly and that tackling them requires robust U.S. engagement in the world.” - Michael H. Fuchs, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, Foreign Policy, MORE
“A failure to connect competitive means to clear ends will allow U.S. policy to drift toward [U.S.-Chinese] competition for competition’s sake and then fall into a dangerous cycle of confrontation...But in the rush to embrace competition, policymakers may be substituting a new variety of wishful thinking for the old. The basic mistake of engagement was to assume that it could bring about fundamental changes to China’s political system, economy, and foreign policy. Washington risks making a similar mistake today, by assuming that competition can succeed in transforming China where engagement failed—this time forcing capitulation or even collapse.” - Kurt Campbell, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and Jake Sullivan, former National Security Adviser to the U.S. Vice President, Foreign Affairs, MORE
“President Trump has set the tone for Republicans by deriding climate change, using White House resources to undermine science and avoiding even uttering the phrase. Outside of a handful of states such as Florida, where addressing climate change has become more bipartisan, analysts said Republican politicians were unlikely to buck Mr. Trump or even to talk about climate change on the campaign trail at all, except perhaps to criticize Democrats for supporting the Green New Deal. ‘Americans believe climate change is real, and that number goes up every single month,’ Frank Luntz [TCG Past Speaker], a veteran Republican strategist, told a Congressional panel recently. He also circulated a memo to congressional Republicans in June warning that climate change was ‘a G.O.P. vulnerability and a G.O.P. opportunity.’” - Lisa Friedman, New York Times, MORE
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of The Common Good.
