Posted on 02/21/2014 7:30:17 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Politics is often like war. Unfortunately, politicians, the media, and the voting public seldom have the same degree of realism and discipline with which professional soldiers fight wars. You can indulge your emotions and base your decisions on wishful thinking in politics in a way that you are not likely to when your own life is on the line in battle.
One of the most dramatic and heartening events of World War II was the miraculous evacuation of British troops trapped on the beaches of France in 1940, at Dunkirk. And its lesson is still relevant today.
The British troops were in France to help the French fight off the invading army from Nazi Germany. But the sudden collapse of the French army left the Brits stranded on the beaches, with the German army closing in on them.
The British navy’s ships in the area were too large to move into the shallow waters close to the beaches so as to evacuate the troops. Instead, hundreds of British civilians headed for Dunkirk in their fishing boats, recreational craft, and practically anything else that would float.
These civilians, who risked their lives going into a war zone, helped nearly a hundred thousand British soldiers get back home across the English Channel.
How does this tie in with politics, especially with politics today?
Many Republicans wanted their party to fight the Obama administration before agreeing to raise the debt ceiling, in hopes of extracting at least some concession — on spending, on the Keystone pipeline, or whatever.
Unfortunately, the Republicans had no more chance of winning that fight than the stranded British troops had of winning a battle against Hitler’s army.
Whatever the Republicans threatened, President Obama could call their bluff. They would either have to back down or have a second government shutdown for which they would be blamed. Another shutdown could doom their chances of winning the Senate in the 2014 elections, and perhaps even cost them the House of Representatives.
In a war, you do not fight battles that you are certain to lose, if only because you will need your troops to fight later in battles you can win. The British troops who escaped from Dunkirk came back to France four years later, as part of the massive invasion forces that stormed the beaches at Normandy, liberated France, and pushed on into Germany for the final defeat of the Nazi regime.
In politics, as in war, you need power to win, and you don’t dissipate your forces fighting battles that you are sure to lose. Symbolism and emotional self-indulgence are just not worth it.
None of this says that the Republicans’ leadership had a great track record prior to the most recent confrontations with the Democrats. For that matter, the British government had a terrible track record in the years leading up to the desperate situation on the beaches at Dunkirk. But that was no reason to sacrifice troops who would be urgently needed for later battles, where the odds would be different.
There would not be a United States of America today if George Washington had followed the tactics being urged by people like Senator Ted Cruz and his supporters. The army under General Washington was no match for the British army, in either military experience or firepower. The American army repeatedly had to withdraw, retreat, and even flee to avoid being annihilated. George Washington did not have to fight futile battles in order to prove his courage. He was already well known for being in the thick of battles, with bullets whistling around his head. But he had to wait for situations where he had the enemy at a disadvantage, and then strike.
When Washington made his celebrated crossing of the Delaware, he was headed for a dramatic victory, using soldiers he had saved for just such a moment. Wars are about winning, not futile symbolic gestures that leave you worse off. Politics must be the same, if you are serious about the issues.
— Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution.
WOW! Absolutely GREAT post!!!
For a smart man, Thomas Sowell is making some pretty stupid assertions.
Since a SCOTUS nomination is a battle the GOPe can't win, what difference will it make who's in control?
Can you show any evidence Republicans have the fight in them to oppose the next communist nominated to the court? Keep in mind, they will be facing the real possibility of being called...{{shudder}}...RACIST! If Obama wanted to be really mean, he might even say Ni! Ni!
mark
“we have to hold our noses and vote for the GOP.”
No, there are write-in candidates.
“Someone needs to explain the difference between tactical and strategic victory to Mr Sowell.”
The Battle Of The Coral Sea: A tactical tie.....a very big strategic win!
Awwwwww, - - - - shucks - - - - - - - - - - - thanks.
Thom AS-Sowell, doesn’t like Gop who have balls, he likes them gelded.
Tommy’s going to be defecating bricks when Cruz runs for President and wins.
Cruz leads by example and is rallying the troops, us, while the chicken**** "leadership" leads by wringing their hands and sniveling and ATTACKING the TEA Party and Cruz!
Sowell is a cheerleader for the sniveling hand wringers.
F*** that, F***them and F***Sowell!
Pearl Harbor - tactical victory, strategic disaster.
Your premise is wrong.
I cannot agree with your summation. Sowell’s article addresses the tactics of politics, comparing them with warfare. He NEVER writes that the Republicans cannot defeat Obama and the Democrats. Instead, he advocates we choose our battles.
History has proven his assessment correct. After all, we don’t need another pyrrhic victory where our sole win is the satisfaction of a bunch of egos.
Name one who won national office
I thought this guy “got it”... Guess not...
WE (the TEA party... or whatever you wanna call us) are at WAR with the PROGRESSIVES! not the democrat party... Fill the democrat party with libertarians and all of a sudden im voting for some democrats.
How do we WIN this war? There are OBJECTIVES we must meet.
1. Establish control of state republican parties with “fire eating” libertarian/constitutional conservatives.
2. Turn the state party infrastructure into a weapon against the progressives in the national GOP.
3. Dominate state governments with “Tea party” types. all branches of state government.
4. Turn those states into weapons against the progressive federal government and the progressive infrastructure in the state.
5. Elect “Ted Cruz” types to the federal government to stop the engine of the progressive agenda or slow it down by using every possible procedure and rule.
6. Identify and target the remaining progressives in the republican party (GOPe) (Ted is doing a FINE job of identifying the bastards) and eliminate them through the primary process if possible, the general election if necessary.
7. Once the GOP has been purged of progressives we will hold a solid defensible position to take the WAR to the progressives in the Democrat party like its never been done before.
8. Continue bludgeoning the fedgov with the states we own, continue throwing “bombs” into the guts of the fedgov with our increasing number of congressman and senators, destroy every progressive in the democrat party politically, professionally and personally... NO MERCY! NO PITY! NO REGRET!
Then we stand a chance of winning our freedom!
Why the F don't the people who advertise themselves as “smarter” then everyone else understand this?
Dr Sowell seems to have his history confused. Sen Cruz IS our Gen Washington.
I just read a great piece (posted on another thread by NEWwoman) written by David McCollough (author of 1776) that actually compares Washington’s battle against the British troops as the Dunkirk of the Revolution. Here’s a snippet of that article....
THE GLORIOUS CAUSE OF AMERICA
By David McCullough
But then, in a miraculous escape from Brooklyn Heights on the night of Oct. 29, we got back across the East River and were saved. It was the Dunkirk of the Revolution. If the wind had been in the other direction that night or the two or three nights preceding it, there’s not much question that the war would have been over then because Washington and 9,000 American troops would have been captured. If the British had been able to bring their warships up into the East River, between Brooklyn and Manhattan, they would have had us right in the trap. But because there was a howling storm out of the northeast, they weren’t able to do that.
Washington ordered that every possible small craft be rounded up and be made ready to bring the army back to New York. It was to be done at night. An organized retreat for an experienced army is the most difficult maneuver of all when faced by a superior force. But for this amateur pick-up team, this rude, crude, un-uniformed, undisciplined, untrained American army of farm boys—some of whom had been given a musket and told to march off only a few weeks before—for that kind of an army to make a successful retreat across water at night, right in the face of the enemy without the enemy knowing, was a virtual impossibility. And yet they did it.
http://magazine.byu.edu/?act=view&a=1746
Sen Cruz is the brave General showing us the way. Shame on Dr Sowell and Ann Coulter for suggesting retreat.
Their trust was rewarded with the execution of 342 of them in cold blood on March 27.
Their contribution to the defeat of Santa Ana's armies in the 18 minute battle at San Jacinto on April 21 was only to reinforce in Texian minds what untrustworthy b*st*rds they were dealing with.
The Alamo defenders, on the other hand, bought our side 13 days of time to gather the army which set things right at San Jacinto.
The battle Ted Cruz fought wasn’t against the progressives in the democrat party... It was against the progressives in the GOP...
the battle we need to be picking RIGHT NOW is against the progressives in the GOP. Target and ELIMINATE as many as possible... Replace with more Ted Cruz types... then repeat until GOP is purged of Progressives.
WIN the GOP... Then escalate the real war against the progressives in the democrat party to levels unimaginable when the GOP was infested by the enemy.
Let's just all acquiesce, turn in all our money and guns and freedoms and go home. Yeah Thomas....that'll work!
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