I’m not sure I follow your train of thought, but yes I certainly hope we can learn from history.
To learn from history, we need to think both
Ideology and
Strategy and tactics.
Too many ideologues ignore strategy and tactics.
They think they should get affirmative action just because they are right and pure and on the side of God.
The reality is that the right and pure and Godly don’t always get affirmative action. They have to work hard and work smart.
In politics we rarely work hard. It is even more rare for conservatives to work smart.... because we think we deserve affirmative action for who we are.