Culture of Fear

My family has been talking about Al Gore's movie (I haven't seen it yet) on global warming. Kind of a side note from that we got onto the "culture of fear". Here's an excellent quote from my sister:

Part of the problem with the culture of fear is that when we're all worked up about some of these issues in which the threat is imaginary or greatly overstated, or contrived for some manipulative purpose, it's a lot harder to identify and respond to any real threats that might come along. That's why levees don't get shored up and schools don't get funded and people can't afford health insurance. Then we end up spending all our time and money trying to clean up the mess that we could have prevented, if only it had been seen as more popular and good for business at the time.

I would like to see a government that protects families by investing in healthcare, nutrition, education, and housing. Actual threats to the stability of a home that are well within the government's power to do something about. But that's crazy liberal talk, I know.