America has not responded to ISIS.
This moral failure proceeds from America’s inability to recognize the objectivity of morality. Our response amounts to the conclusion: there is no right response, or if there be a right response, there is no way to know it.
To answer the question of ISIS and the baffling reaction of America’s leaders, we must address: Why does the American moral code reject self-interest in favor of self-sacrifice?
The answer only becomes clear after a deep search of the American soul. So let’s look at the moral foundations of the most moral of Americans: the Christians.
Liberals and neoconservatives do not end ISIS because they have accepted the moral code of self-sacrifice.
As demonstrated in The Iraq War, American leadership has accepted the idea that, since in modern war zones it is impossible to tell enemies apart from civilians, American soldiers must be sacrificed in order to spare the killing of civilians. What does this policy of “just war” represent, but a denial of reality?
In light of the outrage of ISIS and our own leaders’ moral inability to fight back, Americans face a fundamental alternative.
One choice: To unplug the television and continue to “hope” for “change.”
Another choice: To identify the proper moral code and to defend that code with all vigor.
It devastates me and I look away. But each day the murder toll of ISIS rises.
The world affords constant cause for outrage, such that I would not fault you for looking away and putting it out of mind. But is there a better world? Can we give a better world to our sons?