“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

This quote from Edmund Burke perfectly sums up the state of global politics in November of 2014. Evil is rising on all fronts, and the only force for good in the world that can stop it is sitting back and doing…nothing. The Russians are rising to a level not seen since the height of the Cold War. The Chinese are hacking our systems and readying themselves for war. And on top of everything else, ISIS is slaughtering innocent victims with impunity.

On Sunday, ISIS’ savagery claimed yet another American. Peter Kassig. This is the fifth westerner that has been slaughtered by ISIS on video. How many more bodies must we watch be beheaded before we are stirred to action? 10? 50? 100? How many? How many more aid workers? How many more civilians? How many more women and children do we have to watch be slaughtered by demonic individuals before we finally realize that we were the last hope for those who have died? By our inaction, we have failed them. We have failed ourselves.

As the bombs drop on ISIS, they continue to kill and rape. They don’t care if we blow up an armored car here or there. They don’t care if a soldier or two are killed in an American air strike. Their numbers are in the thousands, maybe even tens of thousands. For the people under their rule, we might as well be doing nothing. We tell ourselves that the airstrikes are decimating the enemy. We have politicians in cheap suits, thousands of miles from the war, proclaim to the media how ISIS is dissipating. Media spokesmen, who know less than nothing, go on air with fancy diagrams proclaiming that ISIS has reached its “peak” (whatever that is), and that now it is faltering. Tell that to the victims who die, and to the ones enslaved by ISIS who wish for death – victims who die while Washington bickers.

In the deluded wishful thinking of isolationists with fat domestic agendas who see time running out to get their way, the countries threatened by ISIS will deal with this threat. They say that this isn’t worth more American lives. Newsflash! Americans have died. They haven’t died on the battlefield trying to defend freedom. No, instead they were butchered on television, after being captured trying to help the people ISIS is oppressing.

We’ve sat back since June. We did nothing, and we made it abundantly clear that we were going to do nothing. No one else stepped up. No one else tried to stop ISIS. Turkey did nothing. Saudi Arabia did nothing. The UAE did nothing except condemn America for not meddling in their affairs. The U.N, in its infinite and sterile wisdom, did nothing except condemn Israel and rant about global warming. The whole of the allegedly civilized world has had 6 months to stop the slaughter. Instead, they let ISIS become a Category Four Killer on the Terrorist Scale. Now, instead of military action that could have cut ISIS short in a few days, a battle to stop ISIS must go on for months, or years. And now, with the whole world doing what it does best – watching – it’s up to us.

People often say that the belief that America is the only force that can stop evil on this Earth is too nationalistic or egotistical. But, at the end of the day, we are the only ones who stop evil when our own shores are not threatened. Russia is too busy invading Ukraine, and threatening America, to do anything. Since China can’t hack ISIS, they aren’t interested. France only leads when there’s money to be made. England bristles but is a junior partner. The world had its chance. They failed. We’re all that’s left. If we don’t do the dirty work, no one else will. It’s that simple.

It’s time for the American people to demand action from their leaders. This November, America elected a Republican majority to both houses of Congress. This gives us at least a chance of taking real military action and stopping ISIS for good, but we can’t wait two more months until power changes hands. We need to keep pressing our elected leaders for action now. We have to demand that they step up to the plate, work together, and confront ISIS. To do otherwise is to go against the essence of what makes us Americans. Our nation has a commitment written in the blood of our ancestors to help those who are oppressed, those who are desperate. We always have, we always will. We have a duty to ourselves, and to those who’s freedom is threatened, to help.

History is being made. Eighty years ago, the world let the Nazis take and take until it was too late. Future generations will read about us. Will they read about how we once again stood aside because we were blinded by fear? Or will they read about how a generation of Americans rose up and went forth to once again stop the forces of darkness that threaten that which we hold most dear: Our belief that when freedom anywhere is threatened, those who love freedom everywhere must respond.

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