Food for Thought.

This is pretty long. You may have to read it in two sittings.

I did a little research the other day about people dying. More specifically, people being murdered and dying in alcohol related auto accidents in the U.S. Strangely enough both numbers are nearly the same at about 17,000 per year. I did this research specifically to see how these numbers compared to war related deaths in Iraq. Now I knew going in to my tiny research project that the drunk/murder deaths would dwarf the U.S. soldier deaths but I didn’t know how it would compare when including Iraqi civilian deaths, not like those numbers matter to anyone here. The civilian deaths number varies widely based on source but I read something like 160,000 in the paper the other day. So that makes about 164,000 war deaths versus 170,000 drunk/murder deaths over a similar 5 year period.

This raises the question of why isn’t there the uproar and protesting about drunk/murder deaths as there is about the war? Although there isn’t as much anymore now that it looks like things are getting somewhat under control, but still more protesting than drunk driving. Now I’m not a huge fan of the war but at least most of those people are dying for what they believe in and there is a chance (albeit quite slim) that Iraq will become a peaceful, prosperous nation (that will allow the U.S. to use as a launching ground for future offensives). That would be great. Drunk driving deaths and murders have no chance of benefitting anyone in the long run yet somehow they are so much a part of our culture that they are almost accepted as a cost of business/freedom. I mix business and freedom because it is likely that the alcohol businesses pay good money to politicians to make sure that the judicial system doesn’t go overboard in taking away our freedom to drink and drive. How else could you explain our country’s general acceptance of som many drinking and driving related deaths? I think damn near everyone knows somebody that was in a drunk driving accident as either a perp or victim. But how many people know somebody that has done more than a night in the can for it. The system seems to say that it’s alright unless somebody dies. I’ve seen first-hand where someone was hit by a drunk and injured but didn’t die and the driver got away with a slap on the wrist. If the victim would have died, the driver would’ve gone away for years. I don’t understand why the victim has to die in order for the punishment to be harsh. The act on the part of the drunk driver was the same. I guess I’m saying the outcome shouldn’t determine the punishment, the action should. Our system almost reinforces the bad behavior by saying it’s okay as long as you don’t kill anyone.

As for the murders, I just think it is out of sight, out of mind. Part of our history. Doesn’t happen in my neighborhood. Actually, it happens in neighborhoods where the people don’t have enough money to sway/buy politicians to change the game. Most of it is gang related and a lot of people feel like the gang/drug participants bring it on themselves but there are a lot of innocent victims along the way. And at least the punishments are usually harsher for murder. That makes me think of something else. I bet the penalty for a dime bag of weed is as steep as drunk driving, and which is really more dangerous?

Bottom line, before you freak out next time about the war, think about some of the very preventable behavior that takes lives right here. Also think about the concept that we went to war to save lives in the future here, but in the meantime hundreds of thousands have died here not from terrorists but from idiots. Could we use the hundreds of billions spent on war to prevent thousands of deaths here? As an investor I think of things in terms of return on investment, so I wonder if money spent on war to potentially save lives here in the future truly saves more lives than spending that same amount of money on better terrorist prevention at our boarders and better idiot protection within our borders? Who knows, the next big terror attack here may never have come without the war or maybe it is going to happen regardless. I just think of how good could the screening and intelligence could be if that war money was spent here? I’m not sure and we’ll never know the answers but it is food for thought if you are the thinking type.