It seems every presidential election comes with stakes higher than the last, and that is certainly true this year. Voters will again go to the polls in November to decide who can best handle the serious issues that our country faces, but this time it seems the state of our world affairs is in even more disarray. And, so is America's role in the world. Over the past 8 years, America has turned its back on its allies, negotiated with State Sponsors of Terrorism, and ignored decades of foreign affairs policy in an effort to appease rogue nations. The Obama Doctrine of Appeasement has not achieved peace. Instead, it has made America and our allies less safe.

Our nation faces determined enemies of all kinds. Our enemies are not just terrorist organizations; they are sovereign states. Take Russia for example. Setting aside its illegitimate invasion of other sovereign nations - Georgia and Ukraine - Russia is waging cyberwar on our nation, with reports of recent hacking into into multiple election databases in our nation. Then there's China, which is aggressively seizing land in the South China Sea to expand its power in a critically important area of the world. Also in Asia, we have North Korea, led by a lunatic, unpredictable dictator. North Korea has backed terrorism, threatened the United States and our allies with nuclear war, and is developing Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles that could be launched from submarines. I have long called on the State Department to re-designate North Korea as a State Sponsor of Terrorism - it has certainly earned that designation and all of the sanctions that it brings with it. And then there is Iran, the largest State Sponsor of Terror that is better off today thanks to America's weakness and the Obama Doctrine of Appeasement. Thanks to the President's nuclear deal, Iran is a richer nation, able to fund terrorism around the world while simultaneously developing a nuclear weapon. That is why I voted against this so-called "deal". It has been the longstanding policy of this country to not negotiate with terrorists, but this Administration has not only negotiated with the largest State Sponsor of Terrorism, it has rewarded them. And, it even covertly paid ransom to release our captured American sailors. American dollars will now fill the coffers of the country who has facilitated and sponsored terrorism against the United States and our allies for decades. Make no mistake: this blood money will come back to haunt us. The United States must also quit giving American money to countries like Pakistan that has covertly supported terrorist activity for years. We don't need to pay those counties to hate us; they will do it anyway.

Aside from sovereign nations, we continue to face threats from terrorist organizations, like the Islamic State (ISIS). The Administration claims that ISIS is on the run. This could not be further from the truth. According to recent reports, 72 mass graves were found across Iraq and Syria filled with thousands of ISIS's victims. Many of the dead are Christians whom have been targeted in ISIS's reign of terror. The President may have likened ISIS to a JV team, but it has also expanded its activity and influence across multiple continents, claiming the lives of citizens from North Africa to Europe and the United States. The terrorist group has been linked to over 100 terror plots against Western countries. From airport bombings in Belgium and Turkey, to the Bastille Day massacre, ISIS has spread its terror all over the map. They have also planned attacks against the U.S. homeland and American citizens. Homegrown extremists in our nation and across the world have been influenced by ISIS propaganda through social media. I have championed the efforts in Congress to stop ISIS's cyber warfare. The United States should not allow a designated foreign terrorist organization - like ISIS- to freely use an American company's platform to incite violence, raise money and recruit more terrorists. I authored legislation to prohibit just that, and the House overwhelmingly passed my bill last December.

The Obama Appeasement Doctrine has resulted in a less safe world because there is a void of leadership, leadership that the United States once provided. This void has left a dangerous opening for our enemies and resulted in the rise of bad actors. These bad actors may have different goals but they all have one thing in common: they view our nation as the enemy. We need someone in the White House who will restore American leadership on the world stage. With that, our nation and our allies will be safer. And that's just the way it is.

TCR Comment: Congressman Ted Poe, Representative of the 2nd District of Texas, is one of the top conservatives in Congress, always ready to fight for our principles. A former top-rate and State District Judge who is a level headed leader for now and the future, and a hawk on spending, Congressman Poe is a strong constitutionalist who stands as a leading advocate on Capitol Hill for limited government, free market, low taxes, and individual liberty.

The godmother of modern conservatism in America Phyllis Schlafly has passed away at age 92.

It was her first book, A Choice Not an Echo, which your editor read and started down the road of conservatism.

She was the most influential pro-family activist form the 1980's and 90's. The founder of Eagle Forum, she led the fight to defeat the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment).

Personally, your editor has interacted with her numerous times, starting in 1996 when we both spoke at the Faith and Freedom Rally at the Convention in San Diego.

Most recently at the Texas State Convention in 2014, we spoke and I asked her when she would write a sequel to A Choice Not an Echo, she responded "I am waiting for the next conservative hero."

Last year, she released an update of this fine book, so your Editor called her and asked who our hero is. She said she had to write the update as she was getting older, but we had no hero like Ronald Reagan.

This icon will be missed.

As for our readers, the first five who would like a copy of her new book A Choice Not an Echo Updated, write your request to us and we will arrange for you to receive a complimentary copy.

The latest polling and campaign developments show a tightening as Trump is aggressively campaigning and Clinton is raising money and spending it on television.

The debates will be important, but from here, Trump's visit to Mexico and his speech to a Detroit Afro-American church helped him immensely.

Meanwhile, Clinton is absorbing the steady drip of scandal and it's hurting her.

Friend Gary Bauer, pro-family leader at Campaign for Working Families, laid it out:

• Supreme Court appointments
  
  
• Thousands of other judicial and government appointments
  
  
• The future of religious liberty
  
  
• The chance to end abortion-on-demand
  
  
• Defeating radical Islam
  
  
• Stopping Christian genocide