Indeed. Even Bernie doesn't make this point (or at least, I haven't heard him make it). To stand up and say, "Actually, terrorism isn't a big threat to the US, especially compared to ..." would be political suicide. Why? Because terrorism isn't about any real threat, it's about hurt pride, outrage at being vulnerable, outrage at being hated, and underlying it all a cultural animosity that ranges from dispassionate concern to visceral hatred. American's are very much doers and they want to "win the war on terror". Which of course is stupid since terrorism has always been around, and will always be around. (And in another twist of irony I am positive that the American Revolutionaries were called terrorists by the British.)
Anyway, a rational politician would have a tremendous uphill battle against both Pride and Ignorance. He or she would have to have tremendous skill as a teacher and a leader, not to mention the emotional fortitude of a Buddha to endure the onslaught of hatred.
> Even Bernie doesn't make this point (or at least, I haven't heard him make it). To stand up and say, "Actually, terrorism isn't a big threat to the US, especially compared to ..." would be political suicide.
Sanders has expressly argued that climate change is a bigger national security threat than terrorism (or anything else) -- and did so in one the Democratic debates, in response to a question on national security threats. While that may not be directly minimizing terrorism, it certainly is explicitly placing it behind other problems in terms of need for focus.
> (And in another twist of irony I am positive that the American Revolutionaries were called terrorists by the British.)
They absolutely were not; the term "terrorists" was first applied to the leaders of the regime of the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution (shortly after the American Revolution), and it was quite a long time after that before the term was applied to actors other than state leaders applying terror as a weapon to control their subject population.
Anyway, a rational politician would have a tremendous uphill battle against both Pride and Ignorance. He or she would have to have tremendous skill as a teacher and a leader, not to mention the emotional fortitude of a Buddha to endure the onslaught of hatred.