Thread by @ThyConsigliori

John Minford, #SunTzu 2:11 "Where an army is close at hand, prices rise; the common people spend all they have; when they spend all, they feel the pinch of taxes and levies."

When I first read this passage (I believe it was in Sawyers' fine translation) I was no longer actually a socialist, leaned Democrat, but always felt they were far too conservative for my taste, not radical enough.

Sawyer's is absolutely a translation I recommend, and you'll be amazed by the differences and how richly they inform deep meditation, a different angle of attack if you're interested in that sort of thing.

amzn.to/2tf6Pmg

In fact, this particular verse has such interestingly different interpretation, I have to offer Sawyer's version for contrast. I've decided to included verse 10 as well.

"The state is impoverished by the army when it transports provisions far off. ...

"When provisions are transported far off, the hundred surnames are impoverished.

"Those in proximity to the army will sell their goods expensively. When goods are expensive, the hundred surnames' wealth will be exhausted. When their wealth is exhausted, ...

"they will be extremely hard pressed [to supply] their village's military impositions."

And I'm not quoting the footnotes! I have to ask, have you ever lived in the footnotes, and been happy? Yes, obviously, I'm not coming out of the scholar's closet to confess I have, and do!

Okay, no more on Sawyer's translation of these verses for now. But, if you can imagine wanting to know the history behind a single term, and its varying translations, and the historical context of the passage itself, its meaning 2,500 years ago, Sawyer is next purchase!

And there will absolutely be extra class points any time you quote Sawyer, as well as double bonus points for proper work in his footnotes. Yeah, Sawyer is that good, and what a fantastic beginning his work was for me, when I first began to be a serious student.

So, who is it getting poor in our verse, the state or the common people? That takes us right back to my Democrat past, where I was when I was first reading this passage. I couldn't care less about the state, back then, believe it or not. I ONLY cared about the common people.

While I'm a bit trapped in the weeds here, as I've admitted, I believe something absolutely profound is in play. Follow me if you will through three locations of power: High, Middle, and Low. High power may be the emperor, or in today's application, DC.

Middle would be the generals, those out in the territories conscripting men, collecting taxes and food and supplies from whomever, and in charge of the execution of war or fortification and defense, etc. For us, that would be the state level of government.

Think also of the Federal apparatus throughout our nation, from FBI offices, to IRS branches, and all the extended reach of the government into the field of our daily lives.

Low in Sun Tzu's time would be the field captains executing orders from above.

And in our use, low is us, We The People, those who have the right to vote, citizens, legal citizens. The genius of our founding fathers locates all real power in us. We have lost sight of that, and that's a story @KateScopelliti and I tell in our book.

But what is Master Sun really doing here? I believe he is tying all three locations of power into a single flow, high, middle and low cannot be separated for him. And he's telling us more.

If the high lords send the troops off far away, and splurge on poorly conceived and poorly executed wars, everyone is going to suffer. If the high lords do not consider the cost that the middle and low lords will pay, they will never plan or prosecute winning wars.

Master Sun pushes his proof with rhythmic power, now. Army is near? Prices rise. High prices? The people spend their wad, not much left in wallets. Money spent and depleted? Everyone feels the pinch. And by any translation, the pinch comes down to? Watch this!!

Taxes and levies. Wink, wink, nod, nod; hell, I'm grabbing your elbow and stepping on your toes, Sawyers' word is "impositions." And he offers us chapter 2's footnote 31. Wink, wink, did you catch my subtle cue?

Ahem, now watch this!

Taxes and levies. Defeat today's Democrats punch one, study this image.

Master Sun is telling us, you can send taxes and levies up, some, and most especially if you are going to fight a short, profitable war that pays for itself. But if you string your war out, and put the burden on everyone below you, it's just not going to end well.

Punch two. Just stop, you silly Democrats. Stop with the taxes and levies and endless, distant wars that no one could possibly afford. Just stop. I've know a general or two in real time. They all read #SunTzu. They tend to lean right in today's politics and everyone knows it.

The reason is RIGHT HERE in verse 10 and 11. You just can't win wars or make your people safe, or sustain an intelligent economy when the taxes and levies get out of whack. Did I just say economy?

Why is #SunTzu only required reading in the military and business schools? Why ISN'T he required reading for economists? Why is that we constantly hear about GDP, interest rates and the latest silly theory about today's stock prices rising or falling, but no Sun Tzu quotes?

Here's another from the weed fields point. We can date the beginnings of our own beloved Old Testament to roughly 1,000 BC, and its current organization roughly 500 or so years later. When's that? EXACTLY the same time #SunTzu was writing.

And in our own beloved (and I truly do mean that word, beloved) Old Testament, we have reams and reams of information about political economy in the ancient world. I ask, why don't we pay any attention to that part of our scripture?

Punch 3, here's why we don't. Because every bit of that information only makes sense through simple common sense. It wipes out agenda. It obliterates bad thinking. Taxes and levies, if you let them go too high, you'll regret it. Simple. Common. Sense.

The current Democrat agenda has no simple common sense left in it. Where is their agenda coming from? Not a good reading of #SunTzu, that's for sure. Nope, we know the answer. Marx and Engels, 1848. The agenda is nothing other than 100% state control over everything.

So, let's go there. Socialism? Some nice, warm, the government pays for your healthcare while rich people happily contribute their fair share and we're all happy and warm and safe. Sure, make your case in spite of history, it's okay.

But...

We on the right had better get our own terms and study right. We're talking communism, 100% state control, dictatorship, and hundreds of millions of deaths on the necessary path to the war-free, state free utopian future they're selling.

And you on the left, please wake up.

This is not what you actually want. It is where you're being led, and you will not be happy when you get there. The Democrat party used to be American. And it has been Democrat administrations that fought the war against communism most fiercely. But here's where you've failed.

You have lost sight of the simple, common sense, guiding principles that founded our nation and made it great in the first place. Communism is today's version of the Viking Hoard, coming to rape and pillage our villages.

Your party's endless wars against poverty, or risk, or for political correctness to the point of infringement of all our rights, and its attack on the very basis of our constitution and laws, its endless disregard for the integrity of our nation and our rule of law, all this...

All this...fails to conform with Master Sun's common sense wisdom and demonstrated in today's verse, and the driving case of this entire chapter.

I'm done punching, and will soon have to go brew up my second pot of coffee, thank you.

I know the sermon today ran overtime, and I would apologize if I could, honestly. I can't. Life in the real world requires that we complete our studies and follow the logic to its destination. Making these ties is not easy, but is critically important in order to win the future.

Taxes and levies, and common sense. No matter how far into the weeds of historic and textual detail I go, I promise it will always come back to today's common sense. There is, I put forward, no other way to extract the meaning, rightly.

And as to that second pot of coffee, I really do have to go brew it, because in our coda today, I've realized I have to do a better job explaining simple, Twitter actions clearly for those of you who wish to support this project.

Back in a few minutes...

Coffee made, and it's fabulous, and I've realized today's coda needs its own thread. I'll make that now, and then Quote Retweet, or, as it's also known, Retweet With Comment, here, in a bit...

This is a Quote Retweet aka Retweet With Comment. It lays out the Beginner's Level of support for this project. I hope you find it clear and, for those who may need it, empowering.

https://twitter.com/ThyConsigliori/status/1094663853512769538