Know Your Enemies

Sun Tzu, the ancient Chinese warrior philosopher, in his classic, The Art of War, wrote that in order to be victorious you must "know your enemy." You must know his numbers, his weaponry, his strengths and his weaknesses, but more important than mere statistics, you must know him. The king, the general, the leader, whoever he is, must be identified and defined. You must know how he thinks, his resolve, his desperation or his pride. Studying his experience and accomplishments will help you evaluate his ability, anticipate his next move, and form a strategy to lead you to victory.

Alexander the Great was a master at seeing the situation from his enemy's viewpoint and then developing battle plans and weapons to defeat him. His genius was his ability to outmaneuver and outfight armies that were two or three times the size of his own, and in a twelve year quest to conquer the world he never lost a battle.

Robert E. Lee was another master at evaluating his enemies. He understood the weaknesses of the Union generals that opposed him and through bold, daring attacks, even when he was vastly outnumbered, exploited his enemies' weaknesses and put them to shame. He also saw the potential in one Ulysses S. Grant and once made a comment something to the effect that, "If the North ever finds out what they have in Grant we are in trouble." Lee was right.

Grant also had an uncanny ability to outthink his opponents and unnerve them with daring maneuvers. He also knew and understood Robert E. Lee. He knew "Marse Robert" was as cunning as a fox, that he would be anticipating what Grant was thinking and would be able to quickly maneuver his army to the best position on the battlefield. But Grant understood what Union generals before him did not. No matter how many times Lee whipped him, he had limited resources in men and supplies and could be bled dry. The reason he was victorious so often was that every time he defeated the Army of the Potomac the generals ordered a retreat to re-outfit, giving Lee months at a time to recuperate and rebuild his army. Once Grant engaged him, he held on like a bulldog, never letting Lee get away or have time to rest. The Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor and the Crater were tactical victories for the Confederates, but Grant continued to pound at Lee until he wore out Lee's army and won the war.

America today is suffering because of leadership that doesn't know its enemies. To be sure, we were much better off with George Bush as president on 9/11 than we would have been with Al Gore. Bush's rapid response against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan no doubt prevented further attacks on our soil. His extension of the war into Iraq has been questioned considerably, but he took out an Al Qaeda strong hold as well as overthrew a maniacal dictator that was a mass murderer and a threat to stability in the entire region.

There are those who call the War on Terror a misnomer. Terror is not a definable enemy they say. You can't fight a war against a generic term. It's a wasted argument. America's first international war after the Revolution was the War of 1812. What kind of an enemy was 1812? I don't think the term makes a difference. What does make a difference is the meaning of the term and the kind of people it represents. President George Bush didn't understand either.

Bush went out of his way to appease the Islamic world community by saying we are not at war with Islam. Yet, every terrorist attack on US soil or US interests around the world in the last twenty years (with the exception of Timothy McVeigh, whose attack was from within, not from without) has been made by Muslims. Bush praised Islam over and over as an honorable religion that does not promote war and atrocities, and that it was only "radical" Muslims that were guilty. It was only Al Qaeda and the Taliban that we were after. Yet most of Al Qaeda's recruits come from Saudi Arabia, Palestinian Muslims rejoiced in the streets over the 9/11 attacks, and not one Muslim nation offered the United States either an apology or its condolences for the atrocities Muslims committed against Americans that day. In fact, it is the "holy Kor-ran" (roll the R) that Obama loves to quote to Muslims around the world that teaches, yea, demands jihad against all infidels including the nation the Iranian ayatollahs have designated the "Great Satan," the United States. Islam is not, in fact, a peaceful religion, neither has it ever been.

Bush went to war with "shock and awe," leading many to believe that the US military would so decimate the enemy that the war would be over in no time. It could have been a relatively short time anyway, but just when the Taliban was on the run and troops had bin-Laden cornered, the war in Afghanistan came to a screeching halt so most of the troops could be moved to Iraq where another brilliant campaign quickly destroyed Saddam Hussein's army. But then there seemed to be a lack of resolve to carry the battle on further. While we sat the Taliban reorganized and came back, Al Qaeda fled to Pakistan and regrouped, and a suicide bomber campaign and multiple beheadings took place in Iraq. At the plea of generals for more troops Bush and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld were unmoved and the war stagnated on both fronts. We came dangerously close to fulfilling Ted Kennedy's prediction that this would be another Vietnam quagmire.

The surge of troops into Iraq in 2007 finally rooted out Al Qaeda and most of its leaders and brought the war basically to an end, allowing the redeployment of troops to Afghanistan. Now, nine years after it started, we are still fighting that end of the war, and suicide bombers are making a comeback again in Iraq. To make matters worse, now we have a president who understands even less than Bush did about fighting to win. He is intent on pulling the troops out on a specific time schedule whether or not the battlefield is secure. You have to wonder whose side he is actually on.

That brings us back to Sun Tzu. His complete statement is not just about knowing your enemy. He wrote that you must "know your enemy and know yourself." We have a president today that nobody really seems to know. He has the left bowing at his feet claiming him to be some sort of messiah. He claims to be a Christian, but every piece of evidence from his Freudian slip of the tongue in an interview where he had to be corrected after he said, "my Muslim faith," to his covering of Christian symbols at Georgetown University before he would speak, to his bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia, to his non-participation in Christian days of prayer, to his honoring Ramadan with a banquet for Muslim leaders, and to his endorsement of the proposed Cordoba Mosque at Ground Zero, leaves very little testimony of any kind of Christian belief. A recent poll found that now 24% of Americans think he is a Muslim.

With his Islamic education as a child in Indonesia, Obama never learned basic American history. He speaks of our Founding Fathers and their values, but he knows nothing about them or their values. He claims Islam had a great part in building America when it had no part. He sounds like his Muslim education was all anti-American. You can't help but wonder if his hidden agenda (his administration has been anything but transparent like he promised) is to introduce Sharia Law into America. He doesn't have the experience to be the CEO of a company or even the principal of a school, but an undiscerning public that had soured on Bush's deficits and his unending war was ready for "change." We're getting change alright.

All it took was for Obama to accuse his opponents of racism when he announced his campaign and well meaning people decided to trust him. Almost immediately after his inauguration Obama began to rule like a dictator with the appointment of unconstitutional czars and in one year tripled Bush's debt, and is well on his way to destroying the US economy. This "summer of recovery" is a total fraud. He tells the public we have to tighten our belts. He tells Republicans to put their money where their mouth is because "next year" he's going to tackle the deficit. Yeah, right! His plan? Raise taxes. The one sure thing that always slows down the economy and causes the debt to rise.

I'm reminded of the old comic strip character, Pogo, a possum that lived in the Okefenokee Swamp, who once famously said, "We have met the enemy and he is us."

Freedom of Religion

When the Pilgrims set sail for the New World they left religious tyranny looking for religious freedom. Many of the other early settlers came to the American colonies for the same reason. Most of the colonial charters included statements about the Christian faith and the advancement of the Christian religion. Yet most of the colonies set up state religions of their own, and were often just as guilty of religious tyranny as was the King of England. It was the smallest colony, Rhode Island, settled by Baptists, that gave the world its first constitution guaranteeing religious freedom for all faiths.

It was these influences and the Baptist example in Rhode Island that led the Founding Fathers to include Freedom of Religion in the First Amendment to the Constitution. Keep in mind that the Rhode Island colonists only had in mind the various branches of the Christian faith. The Founders could never have anticipated the diversity of religions we have in America today, yet the example they gave us of religious tolerance has opened its arms to allow every form of religion known in the world in our time. And rightfully so. People are not free if they are not free to choose which religion to belong to, or to reject religion altogether.

The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment says, "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." It is interesting to note that before they guaranteed the freedom of speech and assembly, and the right to address Congress, the Founders thought it necessary to first guarantee freedom of religion. They were as much concerned, if not more, with spiritual freedom as they were with physical freedom. Free speech means nothing if it does not include religious speech. This as much as anything gives testimony to the purpose of the first colonists. They were on a quest for religious liberty.

With the history of Anglican England, Catholic Southern Europe and Protestant Northern Europe behind them, it is easy to understand that many people in the early days of the Republic were uncertain just how far the freedom of religion may have extended. In 1801 the Baptist Association of Danbury, Connecticut, was concerned that certain of President Jefferson's policies might be leading to the establishment of a State religion. In his January 1, 1802 reply Jefferson quotes the Establishment Clause and adds, "thus building a wall of separation between Church and State." He closed his letter by writing, "I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection and blessing of the common father and creator of man. . . ."

It is obvious from the content that Jefferson was not advocating Christians staying out of government, nor removing Church influence from public life. This was well understood for 145 years until the Felix Frankfurter Supreme Court turned the phrase, "separation of church and state," on its head to mean exactly the opposite of what Jefferson had intended. For the last fifty years liberal controlled Congresses with the support of left-wing, progressive courts and anti-Christian organizations such as the ACLU, have put up regulation after regulation limiting the ability of churches to carry out their mission, and have harassed those trying to uphold biblical values in the government.

"Separation of Church and State" has become the liberal battle cry in a war to deny religious freedom to Christians. The Constitution does not allow Christians to bring their Christian values into government, they say. Nativity scenes must not be displayed on government property. The Ten Commandments must not be taught in public schools or even be put up in court rooms. Christian children cannot pray in schools. Christian college students are not allowed to hold Christian beliefs if they want to pursue certain degrees. Presidential candidates should not speak at Bible colleges such as Bob Jones University. A president or a congressman cannot exercise free speech if it has the appearance of endorsing any particular religion.

How ironic it is, that the freedom the Founding Fathers guaranteed to adherents of the Christian religion is now being denied to Christians, while the freedom to practice non-Christian religions, a guarantee given by Christians, is undisturbed. How hypocritical that those same people who have been using the separation of church and state argument to deny Christian involvement in government are now saying, "freedom of religion," to endorse a 13-story Muslim mosque two blocks away from Ground Zero in New York City. George Bush was excoriated for speaking at Bob Jones, even though he gave them no endorsement, but President Obama endorses a mosque and faces no criticism from the main stream media, Congress, or the ACLU. And it doesn't stop there. The founder of the mosque, Imam Rauf, who blames the United States for 9/11 and refuses to acknowledge Hamas as a terrorist organization, is on an all expense paid junket through the Middle East to promote "good will." Expenses paid, by the way, by the US State Department.

Where is the outcry for Separation of Church and State now? What is good for a Christian president ought to be good for a Muslim president.

The fallacy of the liberal argument is that the Constitution says nothing about "Separation of Church and State." What it does say is "Freedom of Religion." It says that the government has no power to establish or restrict the practice of religion. Thanks to the Christian Founders who gave us this liberty, all religions benefit from it. It is time the government get off the back of Christians, stop trying to restrict Christian practice, and give the freedom of religion back to the religion that gave us this freedom in the first place.

The Pursuit of Happiness

For most of history most of the world's population has been more concerned with simply surviving than pursuing happiness. Tyrants, from kings to war lords, to local officials and small time hoods, have enslaved and kept most people in poverty while they live in luxury off the spoils of the common man's labors.

A good example is my worker, Sammy, here in Kenya. His father had two wives. When he died he divided the inheritance, plots of land, between the sons of both families. Sammy's mother being the second wife, he and his brothers received a smaller portion. That was still not good enough for his half-brothers and they sued to get all of the inheritance.

The court assigned the case to their local District Commissioner, kind of like a local area mayor. The DC and a board of wazee (elders) are to decide the merits of the case. The half-brothers have no documents to prove their claims to the land, but what should be an open and shut case has been drawn out for over a year, the hearings often being put off because the half-brothers failed to show up. The DC finally came to a decision; whoever will pay the wazee 10,000 shillings first will be declared the owner of the land. It is bribery pure and simple, which is against the law in this country, but to contest it in court would cost more than 10,000 shillings just to file. It is only 125 US dollars, but that's more than a month's salary and an impossibility to come up with quickly. Sammy's family's right to their inheritance and their ability to even survive is being threatened by corrupt local officials.

This was similarly true in England and throughout Europe in the 17th century when the first colonists came to America. They fled the corruption of the old systems, and were willing to brave the unknown dangers of settling a wilderness and forging a new nation so they would be free to pursue their own happiness. Our Founding Fathers agreed that the pursuit of happiness was a basic right, and that it could only be realized in a free society unencumbered by excessive taxation and laws, or corrupt government officials.

With rights comes responsibility. The pursuit of happiness requires hard work and honest toil. It requires honest, responsible leadership as well as a self-disciplined populace that will look after its own needs. It should be noted that the right expressed in the Declaration of Independence was only the pursuit of happiness. The Founders claimed no right to a guaranteed outcome.

Today, however, we live in a society that has become obsessed with "rights" far beyond what the Founders had envisioned. It began with FDR's creation of the Social Security system to care for the aged when they could no longer work. Prior to Social Security families and sometimes churches took care of their own. Roosevelt made government the care giver. The "right" to survive for the first time became a government responsibility. With it came the perversion of the right to pursue happiness to the right of happiness.

It led to Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, which was to be a war on poverty; a war we lost and are continuing to lose. In 1994, thirty years after the Great Society began, five trillion dollars had been spent fighting poverty, yet President Clinton declared more people were below the poverty level then than when the program started. Coincidentally, the national debt stood at five trillion dollars as well.

While campaigning for president, Obama told Joe the Plumber that he intended to "spread the wealth." Socialism at its core is spreading the wealth. Obama laughed at the idea, but that is what he is doing; taking from those who have worked hard to get it, to give to those who haven't worked and are not willing to work to get it.

Like a modern day Robin Hood, he is taking from the rich to give to the poor. The problem is, none of the money from his stimulus package, which the Democrats forced through Congress, went to the poor. It was all given to large corporations, to the rich, to the same people liberals routinely vilify whenever they say they are going to redistribute the wealth.

Ultimately, socialism creates a "nanny state" where everyone is equally poor except those in government and nobody is happy. Those who work aren't happy because the government takes what they earn to give to those who are not willing to work, including illegal immigrants. Those on the dole aren't happy because no matter how much you give a whining cry baby he's never happy anyway. The end result will be an economic collapse and a loss of more freedoms.

Government has usurped powers the Founders never intended it to have and is destroying the right of honest people to pursue happiness. The answer is to get government out of the economy. We need to take away from government the power to tax personal income and the power of Congress to raise its own salaries. We need to demand a balanced budget and no more perks for government officials. They must be made to live within their means just as we have to live within ours.

It is up to "We the People" to take back the responsibility for our own happiness. Then we will be free to pursue it.