unshakeable core belief #5

The principle of prevention

Preventing avoidable tragedies is both more compassionate and more cost effective than ignoring problems until they blow up.

When bad things happen—when a crime is committed, a bridge collapses, or a consumer product is found to be poisonous or dangerous, people regardless of political party look to their government for help. I want to live where our infrastructure is sound, our food and medicines are safe, unwanted pregnancies are prevented, and our children get what they need to become healthy, well-educated and productive citizens.

Today we are living the costs of failing to invest in prevention. Failing to invest in prevention (as in the examples shown below), has led to the exploding costs of incarceration, emergency response systems and medical care we are seeing now. It's like we handed the devil a credit card.