Thread by @ThyConsigliori

John Minford, #SunTzu 7: 6 "Throw your entire force into the fray for some gain, and you may still fail."

My ego likes to fancy myself good at checkers. I'm not. I've played players who were good. I always fall prey to the same fallacy against them. I think I'm about to win when I'm not. Two or three jumps and a king and I think I'm there. Ha, they laugh at me.

What always happens is that I see a gain (one they dangled in front of me, of course) and leaping at it with joy, I am now boxed into a corner of my superior opponent's construction. At checkers, I never have my own actual plan of victory, as, well, I'm just not that good at it.

My father was a vastly superior checkers man compared to me. And, he wasn't bad at poker, either. He made a dear buck or two in WWII taking paydays from his bunkmates with each. And, in each, he eventually found his own superiors and decided he too wasn't so good.

I suspect that we Scopelliti pretty much always sucker for the all-in fallacy. Ego driving us to belief in self, we put our resources up on the line, assuming victory. Yet, it is in that very moment that failure rears its head, laughing at us. All in...and lost. Alas.

Master Sun is so kind to us. He doesn't point a finger. He just states, you can throw your entire force in for some gain and still lose. Today's verse is the first of five in which alluring gain leads to defeat. So, what's today's point? Your entire force? Are you sure?

If you've been following along, you already know how much I love connecting later verses to earlier ones. Here we go again. I offer two previous verses to flesh out today's. The first is 3: 8.

"The skillful strategist defeats the enemy without doing battle, captures the city without laying siege, overthrows the enemy state without protracted war."

And the second is 4: 21.

"The victorious army is victorious first and seeks battle later; the defeated army does battle first and seeks victory later."

Can you see it? Throw your entire force for a gain, and you may lose. Win first and throw nothing other than what is needed.

For the past 50 years, America has sought battle first, and victory later, and we've lost. We lost the Vietnam and Iran wars. We're still busy losing the Afghanistan war. We lost the war for economic prowess, giving our innovations and markets to others.

Let's talk about tariffs. From 1789 to 1913 we protected our economy with them, and they generated the vast majority of federal income. Today, everyone thinks Trump is just using them randomly. Nothing could be further from the truth. He is using them with strategy.

What the globalists deceived us with was this. Throw all in. Let all of our economy be placed on the "free market" of the world, and all will be well. It wasn't a "free market." It was one where our taxes subsidized exportation of our businesses and factories.

And it wasn't just taxes. It was EPA regulations. We exported pollution, and allowing pollution is very, very profitable. Factories in Mexico and China do not have to follow EPA rules. We buy the products, cheap. We put all on the line and lose. @POTUS knows better.

When, oh when, will we stop suckering for proffered gains? Master Sun looks down on us with great patience, understanding our mere humanity. He simply tells us, go for the proffered gain with all your force, and you may still lose. We listen, or we don't.

Free college? Free health care? Healthcare is a right? Free income? Seriously, a paycheck from the government, which is, of course, money stolen from others and received by us. Steal money from fewer voters, wealthier, and give it to more voters, poorer. Votes!

Throwing your force into the fray for gain is, exactly, the siren call of socialism. Let your entire society enjoy the fantasy of endless gain. You may believe me when I tell you, election 2020 is about precisely this. Gain, gain, gain. Will you pounce after it? Please, pounce!

Don't play checkers the way I do. Don't pounce upon proffered gains. Don't throw your entire force behind the illusion offered. Rather, revert to true principles. Determine the true course forward and, rejecting easy gains offered, pay the price of true victory.

I have no ability to coach you at checkers. I can, however, read the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. And, I can assure you, the real answers lie therein. If we read them honestly, we will win. Not by accepting gains offered, but by the hard work of citizenship.

160 verses completed, 262 to go.

To return to previous sections in our #WarForAmerica2020 and #SunTzuForMAGA series, don't forget to head over to @WarForAmerica21. You'll find the digital table of contents for this series, there. Please retweet each entry you enjoy.