In the practice of our daily lives we set about engaging in the myriad of task that define what becomes of our lives. We greet the day with a sense of purpose built upon a foundation, a personal commitment to a certain and specific outcome and we quietly and inconspicuously go about applying ourselves to its fulfillment. For the most part, these pursuits are noble.
Then of course, there are a few who’s sense of purpose is perilously distorted and in some way inseparably linked to some form of divisiveness the likes of which commands a more malevolent course. They are different, their structure, their foundation and their ethos takes on a curious form of imposition whereby they feel compelled not to be enlightened contributors to the greater good and cause of mans betterment but only, singly, deliberately, purposefully, their own.
In the simplest form, they are the wounded individuals who not unlike a child dissatisfied with the outcome of a playground-game takes his ball and goes home, no, these individuals want to destroy the playground and when discovering that even this act does not satiate their hunger, they move to suspend all playground-games reassigning the children’s time to acts in service of the State. This should sound strangely familiar!
The practice of conflict, throughout history, plays an important role and both the psychology and physiology of this form of conquest is, on its own, a well practiced art form.
Dr. Paul J. Goebbels, German Minister of Propaganda (1933-1945) said, “It is the absolute right of the State to supervise the formation of public opinion.” Goebbels was instrumental in shaping the political force of National Socialist German Worker’s Party (NSDAP) and its message. He refined what became known as the “Big Lie” which stated the “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
It is interesting to compare history’s practice of this very strategy with the practices of the current American Administration and though this regime is not the first to engage in these methods, it is, without a doubt, the most brazen. Consider, if you will, the following comment (Dr. Goebbels) in the context of the current Administration and measure for yourself the similarities, I believe they are striking:
“We enter parliament in order to supply ourselves, in the arsenal of democracy, with its own weapons. If democracy is so stupid as to give us free tickets and salaries for this bear’s work, that is its affair. We do not come as friends, nor even as neutrals. We come as enemies. As the wolf bursts into the flock, so we come.”
Even more appropriate, might I suggest that one read Mr. Obama’s entire Inauguration Speech within the very same context of the preceding quote.
The strategies of conflict were well chronicled by the Chinese General, Sun Tzu (circa 6th Century B.C.), in his treatise entitled “The Art of War” and have been studied by many throughout the years and applied to both military and non-military campaigns. For the immediate purposes and topic, I’ve selected, strategically, a few and they appear as follows:
“In making tactical dispositions, the highest pitch you can attain is to conceal them.”
“Hence that general is skilful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skilful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.”
“Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated.”
“So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.”
In contemporary political practices, these concepts appear in this form (a few conceptual cues accompany each):
1. Miss-state/distort the obvious: Health Care, Global Warming and Economic Policy.
2. Assault the vulnerable: Redefine traditional roles, Expand Entitlements, Generate Fear.
3. Overwhelm the system: Structure a multi-front assault (combine #1 & #2 herein, for a start).
For most Americans, going about the tasks of their daily lives, these practices are inconspicuous, barely given notice primarily as you are not necessarily dependent upon the System. Until of course, such as we are presently experiencing, the System moves toward catastrophic failure not realizing that the System has been under assault for quite some time. The divisive have long been surfing the Waive of Conflict!
If this Nation is to avoid a predictable outcome, there is little time remaining for us to execute a course correction and, in point of fact, use many of Sun Tzu’s strategies to excise the virus. As I’ve written before and worth reproducing herein:
“I believe that our greatest challenge will be overcoming the risk of defining the discussion as being a choice over competing Political Ideologies when the issue at hand is far greater. This Nation finds itself at a defining moment along the path toward an uncertain future; the course we select will be seen by future generations as being either inspired or tragically predictable. As then General George Washington said in 1783,
“Had this day been wanting, the world had never seen the last stage of perfection to which human nature is capable of attaining.”
Yes, we must remain defiantly independent which is consistent with Providential Design, yet equal to this understanding is that there is no “we” without a common understanding of what binds each to another. There can be no Freedom without Liberty, there can be no Prosperity without the Prosperous and there can be no Course without the context of Direction!
As government continues ever closer to the abyss, it not only has defined the course, it has bound each as unwilling cargo! We can do better, we must!”
“Therefore the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy’s will to be imposed on him.” Sun Tzu
All of what I produce is intended to inform and stir your thoughts in to action. However, this work is not just for you who have read what I have written, they are also for those that have not. Always be sure and pass them on, in this way, the message will expand beyond your screen and we will recover what has been, unknowingly, surrendered!
Curtis C. Greco, Founder
