Evil is on the rise. The bad guys keep winning. No question about it!

There’s no sugarcoating this fact. But keep in mind something very important. Evil is, at its root, weakness.

Bad people like ISIS, and Hillary Clinton, only get by due to the ignorance, lazy thinking, evasion, denial or cowardice of the good.

When it comes to moral issues, most people are uncertain, and in the middle. Bad and evil persons take advantage of this waffling and exploit it to their advantage.

Consider ISIS. If a majority of people were willing to pronounce the judgment on Islam that it deserves, ISIS would not be nearly the threat it is. ISIS counts on the cowardice, uncertainty or lazy thinking of the majority to make its advances. Without those weak qualities in the majority of people, ISIS would not stand a chance.

Consider Hillary Clinton. She gets by with breaking the law because she offers free stuff to people. Whatever is right or wrong about Donald Trump, she wins in any contest where the standard is how much free stuff you give away. Many people will not hold Hillary accountable for her corruption, because they know they want the free stuff she promises us, and the ends justify the means. This is the honest truth many people struggle not to know; it’s called denial.

Denial, evasion, cowardice and ignorance are all indications of weakness. The weaker people are, the more badness and evil thrive.

Yes, it’s discouraging and even depressing to see evil and badness on the rise. But they’re not on the rise because they’re powerful. They’re on the rise because too many people will not take a strong stand for good, like Americans have been known to do in the past.

When and if this ever changes — and it could, because people always possess free will — then you’ll see badness and evil wane. It has happened before. I’m not saying it will happen again; but it could.

Never be afraid to call evil by its real name, and to treat it accordingly. But likewise never make the mistake of thinking evil is actually anything strong.

One of the many reasons I love Ayn Rand is her take on evil. She wrote, “I saw that evil was impotent—that evil was the irrational, the blind, the anti-real—and that the only weapon of its triumph was the willingness of the good to serve it.”

Millions sadly succumb to what Frederic Bastiat called the government — that “great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else.” Obama and the Clintons would never rise to prominence in a society where so many did not yearn for that fiction.

Rand also wrote, “The spread of evil is the symptom of a vacuum. Whenever evil wins, it is only by default: by the moral failure of those who evade the fact that there can be no compromise on basic principles.”

Liberty or slavery; life or death. These are the choices Islam and ISIS offer. “Take a stand,” they say. Most Americans shrug or sneer, claiming it can’t be that simple. ISIS begs to differ. You cannot compromise on basic principles, especially when life or death are at stake. Just ask the survivors of 9/11, Paris, San Bernardino and Orlando. And the next attack.

Evil wins only when good people stop thinking. And when people stop thinking, evil can surely deliver a powerful punch. (Ever heard of Nazi Germany?) However, thinking is something that people are always free to do. By and large, it’s clear most Americans have stopped thinking. But they still possess the capacity, and they can start doing so again any time they wish.

Until the bad guys in power completely turn off freedom of speech (and on their present course, they will), it’s up to those of us who still do think to remind people of what thinking looks like. No matter what the future holds, rationality and truth will always matter more than the smallness of the people who dominate us and hold power today.

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