Know your enemy

Sun Tzu’s Art of War was written by China’s ablest commander and military scientist of ancient China about 500 B.C. Let’s review a few key concepts of Sun Tzu. ‘Void’ and ‘actuality’ are important to any army; ‘void’ meaning variables and ‘actuality’ meaning constants. War is vital to the importance of the state according to Sun Tzu. Five factors to be considered to ascertain the results of a war are: politics, weather, terrain, commander and doctrine. The elements of the art of war are: the measurement of space, the estimation of quantities, calculations, comparisons and chances of victory. What is of supreme importance is to attack the enemy’s strategy. Next best is to disrupt his alliances by diplomacy. The next best is to attack his army. And the worst policy is to attack cities. Nine variables and nine kinds of ground need to be evaluated. in the art of war. Sun Tzu says, it is the business of the general "to be serene and inscrutable, impartial and self-controlled. If troops are punished before their loyalty is secured, they will be disobedient. He should be capable of keeping his officers and men in ignorance of his plans. He changes his methods and alters his plans so that people have no knowledge of what he aims at." All warfare he contends, is based upon deception. When without a previous understanding, the enemy asks for a truce, he must be plotting. The use of spies is essential. "He who is not sage and wise, humane and just, cannot use spies." He who is not delicate and subtle cannot get the truth out of them. But if "plans relating to spy operations are revealed prematurely, the agent and all those to whom he spoke of them should be put to death."

Sun Tzu, however prescient, does err and is restricted in relevance because of our modern military capabilities. When he said, "leave a way of escape to a surrounded enemy and do not press a desperate enemy too hard, we know history teaches an opposite lesson. His advice to generals is outdated because of his feudalistic times. But his basic advice, his basic philosophy applies today. Sun Tzu’s ultimate advice is: "Know the enemy, know yourself; your victory will never be endangered.. When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are sure to be defeated in every battle."

Now to apply Sun Tzu’s Art of War to our new President Obama, his Cabinet, liberal Democrats and Congressmen and Congresswomen on the battlefield of present socialist politics. All their warfare is based upon deception. Their spies are at it; their methods and plans keep changing and contradicting each other. We conservatives with common sense must attack their strategy of misdirection and misinformation. Their actuality is the lie; their goal is governmental control and restriction of our freedoms. We must know this enemy as fully and as confidently as we know ourselves as the enemy. The war between conservatism and liberalism obviously is a war for the preservation the American ship of state.