Thread by @ThyConsigliori

John Minford, #SunTzu 8: 1 "In War, the general receives orders from his sovereign, then assembles troops and forms an army.

Lots to cover, today, class, so we'll move fast. First, there's the issue of a standing army, or not, and the wealth of nations. Master Sun assumes NO standing army in this verse. That's interesting. Receives orders, and then, afterward, forms an army. That's important.

I have to take a joyful poke, again, at all those telling us this book is NOT about war. Sovereign, orders, assemble troops and form an army. Uh huh. It's all metaphorical, as Master Sun's true intent was to oppose war. Come on. It doesn't pass the look, let alone the smell test.

Second, there's the name of the chapter, The Nine Changes. I tried, friends, and I failed to gain clarity. No one can come up with a clear count of the nine changes. Please, if you're interested, do the math yourself and you'll see the problem. Here, I blame Minford.

He explains that the term "nine" only means "many" and isn't meant to be counted. Then why call it "nine," I ask. Giles names this chapter "Variations In Tactics." Boring, I know. But at least it doesn't make the English word "nine" mean the ancient Chinese idea "many."

If Minford were to ask me, I'd offer something like: "Uncountable Battlefield Changes." I'm not crazy for it, but at least it's a somewhat more accurate description of what we'll be working on in this chapter.

Third, if like me you're a textual fanatic, you may notice that today's verse is precisely the same as the first verse of chapter 7. The best theory is that as the document evolved over the centuries, various changes or amendations occurred. Yet there's another theory, too.

Sometimes repetition is 100% purposeful. If you imagine Master Sun carefully crafting his entire text, he might have chosen to restate this basic foundational logic. Or...

Forgive me Master Sun...

He might have completely forgotten that he already said exactly this.

Those of you who have carefully followed the logic of my interpretive method may recall, I always take repetitions as signals of importance. This thing Master Sun is repeating, is important enough to repeat. Here's a big word: "pedagogical method." It means the way you teach.

So, look again:

1) In War
2) General receives orders from Sovereign
3) Assembles troops, and
4) Forms an army.

Let's dive into that, seriously.

1) War is real - check back to #SunTzu 1: 1 "War is a grave affair of state; it is a place of life and death, a roach to survival and extinction, a matter to be pondered carefully."

There's simply NOT a metaphor in there. It is a description of harsh reality.

2) General receives orders from Sovereign.

What is the mission? What is our responsibility? What must we achieve? What is our victory vision? How do we envision the enemy's defeat? That word "orders" is deeply loaded and worthy many hours in the temple, planning over.

3) Assembles troops. Through history, the main forms of such assembly have been two-fold. Conscription and purchase. Officers - as if they were partners in a law firm - purchase their commissions. Soldiers, cannon fodder, are conscripted by the power of the state over the person.

For thousands of years, war was a profit generating enterprise for its officers. They made vast sums of wealth by winning, and risked life and limb by losing. Today, war is still profitable, massively profitable. Thus, Eisenhower's military/industrial complex speech.

No time to delve it completely, but this term, "assembles troops," is again LOADED. Master Sun's generals had to master all the arts of assembling troops. We have to apply this point right now.

In modern American politics, we have reduced this concept to merely getting out the vote. Now, success or failure in that war is a grave affair of the state. Or, as everyone always quotes now, elections have consequences. Yet we've failed to master the true art of assembling.

I'll briefly repeat my understanding of where it's most important. A single, self-appoint leader in any one of 100,000 districts across America, recruits 8 followers. The leader determines a mission, local, state, or national, and leads his or her followers into action.

4) Forms an army. Why does that matter? Why aren't troops enough? Because an army is an integrated unit. All the troops, gathered into what clusters they may be, must all be guided by a single, unitary vision, a single chain of command, a single source of deployments.

Here's my final point for today. Before you dismiss any of Master Sun's verses or points of counsel, be certain you can convert this or that verse into a story. Be certain you can feel it, understand it in context, and apply it to your own world, and more, the world of #MAGA.

199 verses completed, 223 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.