Fight ISIS and Yet Stay True to our Heritage of Liberty

A growing anxiety in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks is calling all sides of the American political spectrum to action.  Unfortunately reaction to fear puts our heritage based on the Declaration of Independence in a position where we trade our liberty for the illusory security of a garrison state. The 9/11 terrorist attacks ignited fears the likes of which not seen since the red scare of the nineteen forties and fifties with the posturing of many of our leaders and thoughtful commentators who would betray our heritage in the name of preserving it. Understanding that Paris is a taunt purposely administered to foster mindless retaliatory action that results in, from the book ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror by Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassan, “another tactical victory rendered strategically negligible because of the enormous propaganda boon it delivered” will go a long way in logically dealing with the chaos.  Rather than play along with the Al Qaida manual, The Management of Savagery, instructing how to weaken enemy states through “vexation and exhaustion” the allies must counter with alternative tension deflating tactics directed toward various strategies in the Middle East with a goal of pacifying the region and yet stay true to our heritage of liberty.