Knowing Ourselves
because sun tzu
Chinese military expert Sun Tzu says:
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
And since Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt advises that the political is the distinction between friend and enemy, it seems to be important for US politics that we “non-liberals” understand both ourselves and our “liberal friends” — who are indeed our political enemy.
Last week I wrote about “Knowing our Liberal Friends.” Now I am going to write about knowing ourselves.
But who are we? I’d say we include a disorganized and disconnected mass:
People who are not believers in the administrative state.
People who are not believers in the benefits of regulation.
People who are not believers in the left’s secular religion that fights for the oppressed.
People who believe in God and practice their religion.
People who are not believers in globalism.
People who doubt that politics can do good things.
People who believe that government spending at 40% of GDP is a problem.
People who believe that people, not government, should care for the poor.
People who believe that parents, not government, should educate children.
People who believe that anything the government does, it does badly.
People who believe that people in government don’t have a clue.
People who believe in two sexes, marriage, and children.
My point is that we non-liberals are all over the map, believing all sorts of different things, for different reasons. But I would say that the one unifying factor is that we are not that interested in politics and do not believe that politics can do much for humans.
It’s interesting to note that the non-liberal world has changed over the years. In 1900 the Republican Party was Protestant and upper-middle class. Then after World War II a reaction to FDR progressivism set in with Buckleyite conservatism and libertarian movements. Today we see the rise of populism, which really consists of the non-educated class and the non-victim class.
In other words, to understand ourselves we need to realize that we are not organized, not united, and not really agreed upon a political or cultural or ecoomic agenda.
What happens in a society like this, when one sector believes in the saving grace of political power and the rest of society not so much? That, of course, was what JRR Tolkien asked in The Lord of the Rings. His idea was that, at some point, ordinary everyday Hobbits had to get out of their comfortable and friendly Shire and venture into the land of power and evil long enough to toss the Ring of Power back into Mount Doom.
Maybe what we need to know about ourselves is that we know who our friends are, and when the call comes to defend ourselves against the power of the liberal state we will not hesitate to join with all the diverse Americans that are not sworn into the liberal camp and find the courage to journey to Mount Doom and throw that liberal Ring of Power into the fiery furnace.
Knowing all this about ourselves we should not need to fear “the result of a hundred battles.” Provided that we know our liberal friends.
Thanks.