Dinesh D’Souza speaks at Liberty

Author shares fears and concerns about radical Islam and the future of America

New York Times bestselling author, political analyst and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza spoke to students Feb. 11 about the dangers surrounding radical Islam and the role of young people in society.

D’Souza’s most prominent films are “2016: Obama’s America” and “America.”

After an introduction from Adam Ochs, chairman of Young Americans for Freedom, D’Souza told of his first time in the U.S. He was born in India but came to Arizona at age 17 as an immigrant.

“I saw the skyline of New York and the Statue of Liberty, and I had this very odd feeling that my whole life was about to change dramatically,” D’Souza said. “For the first time, I was going to be the architect of my own destiny.”

D’Souza explained that people today are wishing for “another Ronald Reagan” for president but do not understand that the world is different than it was in the 1980s.

In his 2012 documentary “2016: Obama’s America,” D’Souza made several predictions of how President Obama would handle a second term as president before he did eventually secure a second term in the White House. D’Souza’s first concern was the national debt.

“He has single-handedly doubled the national debt,” D’Souza said. “The national debt was $8.5 trillion when Obama came in. It is now well over $17 trillion.”

D’Souza said his next projection in 2012 was a very controversial prediction.

“The second thing that I said about Obama is that he would undermine our allies and strengthen our enemies,” D’Souza said. “He has a view of America that involves subtracting and contracting and withdrawing American influence in the Middle East that creates a vacuum in which groups like Al Qaeda, but now especially ISIS, can flourish.”

D’Souza said Obama is purposefully turning the cold shoulder to Israel, while making deals with the enemy. As America begins to diminish in power, the radical Islamists begin to grow.

The main difference between traditional Muslims and radical Muslims, according to D’Souza, is that radical Islamists are looking to restore Islam back to a state of rules, codes and commandments.

“Radical Islam is a political movement that is a response to the greatly diminished power of Islam in the world today,” D’Souza said.

D’Souza said the U.S. can certainly deal with the threat of radical Islam, but the reason the U.S. is not making any efforts, in his opinion, is not because the U.S. does not have the resources to fight or does not know how.

“It rather is that (Americans) are bitterly divided over who we are and what we stand for and what our roles are in the world,” D’Souza said.

He said the world is headed in one of three directions: the Christian direction, the radical secularism direction or the radical Islamic direction. Each of these options has the power to convert.

D’Souza said the choice of where the world is headed is not up to radical Islamists, but rather the choice is up to the young Americans.

“We will decide which of these three currents of history is going to be dominant,” D’Souza said. “The real power of university, the real power of young people, is that you combine three powerful things together: knowledge, idealism and action.”

As his speech concluded, D’Souza encouraged the students in the room to seek a career goal that makes them both a dangerous Christian and a dangerous American.

“No matter what you do, you want to be that kind of a Christian and that kind of an American, because America needs you to be that way in order to restore, strengthen and protect our society,” D’Souza said.

Coleman is a news reporter.