End of Pax American

Good question.

On a related note, what should we make of the fact that in response to the murder of one of its citizens, the United States is less forceful than Jordan? Your choices include: 

a) Jordan currently has more forceful leadership than the U.S.   

b) In fighting ISIS, the United States has a strategy that is more nuanced and will ultimately be more successful. 

c) The United States is wisely playing down the significance of terrorism in order to save its resources for dealing with bigger threats.  

d) The United States in fact does not have the military capability to defeat ISIS, and attempting a decisively forceful response would only expose that fact.

Sadly, I think the answer is both a) and d). However, I think we have the capability to recruit and find people to both lead better and simultaneously figure out a way to defeat ISIS. The problem is that our elites are not interested or capable of presently doing so and our populace is not putting pressure of them to act.