In 2016, confront world security concerns

Lisa Kam | Daily Trojan

As Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump faced the national security test with his speech on Wednesday night, it brought up an important issue of what the next administration is going to do about ISIS. The United States’ current stance is with an understanding that, as President Barack Obama stated, “ISIS is not an existential threat.” However, popular consensus is pretty unanimous: It’s bad. No one predicted ISIS to be the effective and potent force it is now. Yet, Americans have been told that everything is okay and that ISIS poses no threat to us. But it’s hard to blame the Obama Administration entirely, because their take on these issues has been in accordance with the polls — popular sentiment calls for the U.S. not to involve itself in another Middle Eastern quagmire in the form of conflict with ISIS.

The current political climate has seen a revival in the populist mentality of American isolationism. Trump often throws around this kind of rhetoric mixed with the usual “maybe” or “I don’t know,” never really certain of what just exited his mouth. Regardless, the popular opinion to remain uninvolved is unacceptable. We shouldn’t lack concern. We can’t. Regardless of this nation’s war-fatigue or how many times a toupee-haired man disburses empty, passive-aggressive bellicosity, the United States absolutely has a responsibility to deal with the Islamic State as the leading nation of the world. Whoever wins the 2016 Election will inherit that responsibility — and both Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton must recognize the immediate necessity to address this hindrance to world security and human rights.

“Leading nation” does not mean to denote the claim “greatest nation in the world.” By pure, indisputable numbers the U.S. happens to have the world’s largest economy and military — and therefore, the largest influence. So whether we like it or not, having that kind of success means there are responsibilities that come with it. There’s a price you must pay when you’re the most powerful country on earth: Involvement everywhere. Wherever you go, you’ll be noticed and watched. Hence, the U.S. doesn’t have the luxury to sit by while the Levant goes up in flames.

VICE’s Ben Anderson makes it clear in his video report “Fighting ISIS” that Islamic State’s potency is forceful and effective despite the group’s disorganized coordination, which is why it is disturbing when Obama declared, “ISIS is not an existential threat to the United States,” in his interview with The Atlantic. Even his response to both ISIS-inspired shootings from last December in San Bernardino and this past June in Orlando have been to shift the attention of the issue on gun control, not the Islamic State. The President cannot ignore the fact that these shootings were as direct as ISIS could get to attacking the U.S. The very civil liberties and ways of life he fought to see protected by law — like gay marriage, et cetera — are being shot apart by a group that Obama insists does not pose a threat to the existence of the American people and their way of life.

We really have a dwarfed understanding of the kind of power that this ideologically-driven group possesses. If America does nothing more now, it will deal with an enemy that is becoming more battle hardened by the day. We will face an enemy mistakenly convinced that the world is silent from fear rather than strategic sequestration and encouraged to turn the once-fantastical intent of world domination into an unchallenged campaign. Yet ever increasingly, Americans are OK with an apathetic response to terror groups like ISIS.

We weren’t always like this. Americans are known for their value of character. We’re known for the national persona of being stubborn, self-confident and sacrificial. The Korean War would never have happened if one man didn’t see further than what was fashionable. We must value our character above our comforts. As the people of the United States of America, our actions are seen by the world. In an age of globalization, everything is interconnected and if the only times our presidents reacted to war or atrocity was if it were popular then what a terrible example of a leader we are. When the president doesn’t react to genocidal activities in the Middle East because it isn’t popular, that says a lot about our character. It’s time we should change that to show ISIS, the world and ourselves why we fight.