Thread by @ThyConsigliori

John Minford, #SunTzu 8: 8 "There are armies not to attack."

Wow, what a can of worms I opened up this morning. I thought of honest Abe. I'd seen all the memes about destroying enemies by making them friends. I wasn't able to figure out if Lincoln said anything like that or not. Can you? If so, let me know!

Not getting bogged down in either attribution or specific (and accurate quotation), let's run with the assumption he said something like: The best way to destroy an enemy is to make a friend. Now, boom, we run into trouble again, immediately! What might this mean?

Also, not getting too far afield from Master Sun’s counsel, I was actually thinking about luring – you know, lure with bait! – as opposed to direct confrontation or battle. But then, better to take the army intact than to destroy it. Hmm. Let’s turn back to Abe.

The first thing we have to work on is, could it be, might it be possible that out of all his vast reading Abe might have encountered Master Sun's work? I'm thinking no, not likely. It was in French by 1772, but when I checked on Abe's reading, there was no indication of French.

But, there's another path we can play with. We know for certain Abe's main influences were the King James Version of the Bible, Blackstone’s lectures on English law, and Shakespeare. Don't take my word for it. Check here:

ashbrook.org/publications/o…

Yes, I do indeed imagine we could get a great deal of Master Sun's principles out of the KJV. Ah, but Shakespeare. Shakespeare. I never had that thought before this morning's research. What if you read a Shakespeare play with Master Sun at hand, looking for examples?

Let's play one more trick with history. Let's imagine - just imagine mind you - that honest Abe read...drum roll...Machiavelli's The Prince! Between Shakespeare and Machiavelli, you'd have a great deal of Master Sun, at the principles level. What fun!

Bopping back to Master Sun for a moment, note he does NOT say there are armies not to defeat. Only not to attack. Oh, oh, Master Machiavelli interrupts with his GREATEST principle. Ready? Here it comes...

Master Niccolo tells us: NEVER wound your enemy. Either kiss him or kill him.

I always bow when Master Niccolo intrudes with his wisdom. However, I can tell Master Sun is unhappy, so no other masters are welcomed. Yes, Master, I say slinking back to my frenzied typing...

Is Abe so nice and politically correct that his idea is to actually make a friend, really? Is he so cynical as to befriend in order to betray? And does his analysis accord with Master Sun's? (I got a small smile for that last question.)

No further guidance forthcoming, my own theory is yes, it absolutely does. Leading the Civil War - the least civil of our history - he was absolutely ruthless in the prosecution of his mission. He'd do anything. He'd absolutely betray a friend to win, no question.

Again, please do NOT take my word for it. The Honorable Justice William Rehnquist wrote an entire book on the topic, and it is a phenomenal read. It changed me in ways I couldn't catch quite up with for years after I read it:

amazon.com/All-Laws-but-O…

Considering this, possibly, as the Lincoln principle, we'll require two applications:

1) Make a True Friend, be Faithful, you no longer have an Enemy.

2) Be a False Friend, find your Enemy's weaknesses as only a Friend can, and Stab Him in the back, at just the right moment.

One way this accords with Master Sun's counsel is that, today at least, we're judging an army as one to not fight. Can't beat 'em? Maybe not join but befriend them. Good friends? Cool Your new friend's not a True Friend, wait, learn, strategize and then...

I just asked, and Master Sun gave me permission to mention Forest Gump, in a twisted quote. Friendship is as friendship does. And, on topic still, Forest kindly adds: Loyalty is as loyalty does.

Friends, I know how difficult the moralities of Masters Sun and Niccolo are. Yet, I promise, in my own version, morality is as morality does. Like Abe in the 1860's we too have a mission, no less dangerous. Hear those words: Make America Great Again. What are the stakes?

How serious is our enemy, and do they, honestly now, have armies we should evade and avoid and not fight? Among them, who can become a true friend? And what about spies. Yeah, spies. Most of them I've met of late are trolls. They pretend to be friends.

I often wondered, after I got involved, if I should not volunteer to be a spy. I know everything about the left and know precisely how to fit in. I'm a very good actor. And I'm strategic. I'd have been very effective. It was actually @GenFlynn and the Trump team that decided.

@GenFlynn I don't know if they thought about it as an option, but they asked me to publish my analyses, which brought me in from the cold, and placed my work under the spotlight of public readership. The die was cast. I'll never be a spy, can't happen. I'm known.

@GenFlynn And yes I am, I am giving you another foreshadowing of the hellacious chapter 13 on spying, still months in the future, but inexorably coming at us. Something tells me that today's verse will be needed when we work on that chapter. Okay, now last point.

@GenFlynn When facing an army, many of your friends and fellow warriors will be chomping at the bit to engage. It takes great boldness, courage, character and personal force to be able to be that voice saying no, fellow patriots, we should not fight today. Let's not attack.

@GenFlynn The key is simple. You just memorize today's verse. It's only six words. It is a principle of existence. There do exist, it teaches us, armies not to attack. Be mindful of this, and when at need, state it in honor of Master Sun (and maybe Abe, Shakespeare and Niccolo, too).

@GenFlynn 207 verses completed, 215 to go.

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