Thread by @ThyConsigliori

John Minford #SunTzu 6: 19-23 "By reinforcing his vanguard, he weakens his rear; by reinforcing his rear, he weakens his vanguard. By reinforcing his right flank, he weakens his left; by reinforcing his left, he weakens his right. By reinforcing every part, he weakens every part.

Today's focus is on #SunTzu 6: 19 "By reinforcing his vanguard, he weakens his rear;"

There are five components of Master Sun's analysis, today. We will focus on the first two, shortly, but first we have to look at all five. Here they are:

1) Vanguard
2) Rear
3) Right Flank
4) Left Flank
5) Every Part

Do you know the term "Phalanx?" The earliest use of this term dates back, get this, to 2,500 BC. Add another 2,000 years in AD, and that's 4,500 years ago. My cross-cultural military history chops aren't quite good enough to tell you if the Chinese were using it at the time.

Here's Wikipedia's definition: "The phalanx was a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar pole weapons." Please pay special attention to the word "rectangular."

When you read Master Sun's principles in these verses, there's no way to question that, by 500 BC, 2,000 years later, the Chinese were most certainly employing a Phalanx structure in their fighting formations.

Right quick, let's jump forward to the 20th Century, Alinsky, and the Community Organizing movement of the Progressive Left. I propose that they reinvented the Phalanx. Consider it. Ancient warriors with spears, lined up in rectangular formations. What is that? Organization.

Consider the domains the Progressive Left has conquered. We've discussed them many times. Education, preschool to post-graduate. The media. The entertainment industry. The entire federal apparatus rightly called the Deep State. Obviously, the Democrat Party. The judiciary.

No such series of conquests could possibly have occurred without organization. That's what every ancient military force demonstrated. So why and how did the Phalanx arise? It's very simple. The greatest infliction of death, with the smallest number of losses of men.

It arose naturally, because it succeeded. In a way, it is the human version of a herd. In nature, herds are essentially defensive in nature. Herds are essentially circular. Strongest outside, everyone else inside. Horns or hooves are damn fine weapons. Attackers beware.

It is humanity that embraced offensive warfare and evolved a formation by which to achieve it. The Phalanx succeeds brilliantly at defense. Shield wall. Ah, but its offensive capability is beyond fearsome. Spear hedge. Imagine the awe, the shock and awe of such formations.

If you can't feel the awe and trembling, terrible fear, then come forward again and consider the modern bayonet. Bullets first. Thrusting stabs second. Where thrusts are efficient, slashes carry both force and deadly cuts. A rifle can be a very fine spear.

It is the spear that created the Phalanx, the spear combined with a shield. How do you organize such warriors? Again, the rectangle. What is the rectangle, itself? The way you organize shield bearing spearmen. So, what was it that created the modern Community Organization?

Inequality is their greatest weapon. Those who rise into positions of power, always use the system to their own advantage. At its worst, today, this is called Crony Capitalism. That means that the power to create laws is used by those who put those laws to profit.

One poor person is lost in the world of political power. Thousands of them, organized, have the spear of morality as their organizing principle. Injustice is a powerful spear, indeed. It was this spear by which Alinsky, and his peers, organized the underclass into Phalanxes.

Now, contemplate the nature of the rectangular formation. You would naturally put your greatest warriors into the vanguard, the front line. You would naturally put your weakest into the rear. You'd naturally place secondary warriors on the left and right flanks.

And you'd be right to do so. As long as you have the momentum, the advantages of Earth, Command, and Discipline, what could argue against this natural formation? Ah, but what if your enemy sees this, as Master Sun would have him do? Your natural form becomes your disadvantage.

Picture two Phalanxes, rectangle against rectangle. One places its strongest warriors in its vanguard. The other places its weakest warriors there. And, their instructions are, do not attack. Only defend. Try not to die, that's all. Where are the strongest warriors?

In this scenario, they're placed forward, but in the flanks, left and right. The weak warriors in the vanguard melt away, allowing the other Phalanx's mighty warriors and easy lead within. Now, the mighty flanking warriors descend upon them from both left and right. Ambush.

Do you see? Master Sun has mapped out the impossibility of perfect strength. A mighty vanguard means a weak rear. Can The Way, Heaven and Earth empower me to send my mightiest warriors around the enemy's formation, and attack from the rear? Victory is certain.

The Progressive Left claims it has the moral high ground. It's only looking out for the weak in our society, and of course the mighty must sacrifice on that altar. But it hides, in its rear, a form of complete moral corruption. Morality in the vanguard. Corruption in the rear.

As we explore this rectangular formation in the coming verses, 20 - 23, we will return each time to today's execution of the ancient Phalanx's dynamics. I have to imagine that Master Sun was, on his own, an early Greek geometer. Remember, he lived at the same time as Pythagoras.

129 verses completed, 293 to go.

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