Jon Meacham: There Has To Be Some Sort of a Policy Move to Make People Feel Safer

EXCERPT:

MEACHAM: "It’s remarkable. And it is a climate of fear. Fear creates unreason. If you feel you’re constantly under threat, it leads to irrational thought, irrational actions. And I think that ultimately, what has to happen is the ubiquity of the anxiety is something that has to be dispelled, both by word and by deed. It can’t simply be a matter of people saying reassuring things. There has to be some sort of policy move that begins to make people feel safer. The first function of government — the most conservative person on the planet will agree with this — the first function of government is security. And right now, it’s not providing that. And I don’t think — and this isn't call for one bill or another bill, but the thing to remember about this is why let the perfect be the enemy of the good. If some legislation saves one life, that’s one life saved."