Defeating ISIS in a LANDSLIDE
By Thom Palmer
August 10, 2016
“ISIS will be not be defeated with a BOOM, but with a whimper.”
This election will prove to be the most consequential election in history. On one side, we have a candidate that has virtually been throwing logs on to the flame of terrorism. The Republican candidate happens to be the absolute best recruiting tool for ISIS, so much that they play his rally’s and quote him as a recruiting tool. Even the daily discussion of the Muslim ban by news outlets world-wide, provides the perfect fear of Americans by Muslims, as it fires up fear of Muslims by Americans. What’s next. Are we talking 1930’s Germany here? It sure sounds like it, and we know that didn’t turn out too well either the Jewish or German people. Trump has essentially vowed to walk away from NATO, leaving a vacuum for Russia to fill. This of course is
Putin’s dream President. He has literally insulted everyone at one point or another through this nightmare of a campaign. He has verbally invited Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia to acquire nuclear weapons in order to defend themselves against North Korea. This would surely open Pandora’s Box, putting humanity in a really tough position, to say the least. He has vowed to walk away from the Paris Climate Agreement, in which 175 nations have signed and banded together to solve the single most dangerous threat to humanity today. Vilifying Iran, he vows to disband the nuclear agreement, which protects us all for decades. This would only place the United States in a box by itself, since the agreement is a United Nations agreement and would not be abandoned. If it were abandoned, what would his solution be? Nuclear war?
He demonstrates that American POW’s are not worthy of his respect, yet he accepts a token Purple Heart from a fan, stating:
I cannot think of a worse thing to say, disrespecting the 1.5 million Americans who have died defending our nation. It is also important to note that this guy avoided the draft during war time, obtaining 4 deferments. Mr. Khan, the father of a U.S. soldier killed in action, at the Democratic Convention pointed out that Donald Trump has sacrificed NOTHING for this great nation, and challenged him to read the Constitution. Trumps response was very disturbing. He stated that yes, he had sacrificed a lot, by employing people and building skyscrapers. While writing this article, a tongue-in-cheek comment was made encouraging the assassination of a First Lady, U.S.Senator, and U.S.Secretary of State. It’s not so much a matter of what he meant. It’s a matter of what the die hard Trump supporters, the ones who chant death threats against Clinton already, actually heard from him. The list of crazy and dangerous comments are too plentiful to list.
Now, the rest of the civilized world has seen Trump win the Republican nomination with flying colors. They believe that most Americans share the same mind-set. Their understanding, although Trump only received 13 million votes out of 135 million eligible voters in the primaries, is that he blew away the competition. Their current conclusion is that Americans are completely out of their freaking minds. Fear and hate rolled through the civilized world like an earthquake, permeating through all media outlets, as they broadcasted chaos at Trump rallies throughout. They heard him spew racist, sexist, hateful and fearful rhetoric throughout the campaign, and watched as thousands of his supporters shouted the same.
To use the past as an educational tool is important for anyone who intends to lead the free world, and guide our nation further into the 21st century. The never ending questions persists, and lately have been nagging me more than any time in the last three decades.
Will humanity survive its own technology? Will we survive our own adolescence?
This election, and its results, will be a referendum, not just who will lead the nation, but who we are as a people. How many of us support division, hate, racism, anti-semitism, fascism, environmental disaster, and a host of other “isms” and division not just here, but around the world. How we vote, in THIS election, will define us internationally. It’s not only about who wins, it is also about how many Americans, and how many States vote for hate. Every state which casts their electoral votes for Trump will be used as recruiting tools for ISIS and other terrorist groups. If the Republican candidate wins 20 states, and the electoral count goes, for example, 350-188 in favor of Clinton, those 188 electoral votes represent 122 million Americans or so. One Hundred Twenty Two Million Americans who support Hate, Racism, Sexism, Religious persecution, War, Environmental disaster, and a lot of other scary stuff. Oh...this will be, even in defeat, a wonderful recruiting tool for ISIS. 122 million of us will be viewed as Muslim haters. It’s just math.
There are currently about 30,000 ISIS members world-wide. There are currently about 1.5 billion Muslims. Simple math tells us then, that Muslims are NOT a threat to the United States. 1/500th of 1% of Muslim are Islamic Extremists. The other 1.5 billion abhor them, and have repeatedly stated that ISIS has perverted their religion. The majority of those killed by ISIS are in fact Muslims. Yes, they are just as afraid of ISIS as we are, yet 122 million Americans will be viewed as hating all Muslims, and wish to punish them for the acts of a very few. This will only be viewed as a rallying cry, no matter how large Hillary Clinton’s victory will be.
LANDSLIDE
A win will be good, and will send a statement to the world. A larger win will be better. However, only a 50 state sweep will exonerate the citizens of the United States of America of the damage that Trump has done to our reputation world-wide. It will have made a statement that WE WILL NOT BE FRIGHTENED. We will not be a tool for ISIS recruitment, and we WILL once more be viewed as the shining city on the hill, where those that wish to have a better life can do so, and for other free nations to emulate.
229 years ago, 11 years after declaring our independence from England, our founders wrote that incredible and sometimes confusing document, The Constitution of the United States. In my opinion, the most powerful words in that document are right up front. They are the words that guided the founders through the rest of the document, including the Bill of Rights and the rest of the Amendments.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Our national identity is on the line. Defeating Trump will help, but in order to repair the damage that the Republican nominee has done to our reputation, YOUR reputation and MY reputation world-wide, a simple defeat will not do. With a 50 state sweep, we will have stated loud and clear that we reject this premise that the United States are haters and warmongers, sexists and racists, and thereby secure the undying loyalty of those that have previously viewed the United States as that “Shining City on the Hill”, to be respected and emulated.
Our extensive war record, as a nation, is considered to be about 100-1-4 or so. The single loss being Vietnam. We can talk about whether or not we wish to continue being a civilization addicted to war later, but just to put it into perspective, in the history of our nation, over 1.5 million Americans have given their lives. For most of those wars, the United States had the moral high ground, but many of them were avoidable. 105 wars by my count. Maybe we can do better. Worldwide, 160 million people on this planet perished in wars in just the 20th century alone. Is this really what humanity is about? Where does that leave our prospects for surviving our adolescencs as a civilization. I think we’d better start thinking a bit more progressively as a human race.
I challenge the record. The United States DID NOT lose the Vietnam war. We walked away from it, as the realization that the cost of the war, in human lives, was not justified. The benefit versus the cost would not square up with the American people. So......we chose to go home. The United States did not lose with a BOOM, but with a whimper. God Bless the soldiers that fought valiantly and those who lost their lives and limbs. They are truly among America’s best patiots, but the war simply could no longer be justified. 54,000 Americans and up to 2,000,000 (two million) North and South Vietnamese lost their lives. For what?
ISIS is everywhere. You can’t bomb them out of existence. Yes, we need to continue to kill them to keep their numbers down, but you cut off the head and another grows back. I suppose we could bomb apartment complexes in cities around the world, including places in London, Paris, New York, etc., but obviously innocent casualties would far exceed the number of ISIS killed. So, what’s the solution?
ISIS will end not with a Boom, but with a whimper, as the fighters eventually question the validity of what they’re fighting for. Once they choose to go home and be with their families, they will fade. That’s how to defeat ISIS, and it’s really the only way. We need to make this statement to the world, and send a message to all humanity that we can, and must do better.
ONLY A LANDSLIDE WILL DO....A really big one.
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