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Opinion

Beware: Good Socialists Who Never Answer the ‘Why’ Question Can Be Dangerous

Two books are in my summer reading queue. One is Hue: 1968 by Mark Bowden and the other is Shattered: Hillary’s Failed Campaign for President. Reading at the same time, I discovered that both point out a fascinating attribute. General Westmoreland and President Johnson flexed American military power but Why? Lots of confusion swirls around the math of conflict, dropping bombs, destroying the village to save it, etcetera. The problem is that Westmoreland and Johnson faced a conflict they did not understand. In turn, beyond projecting power and winning battles, they could not answer the “Why” question.

In Shattered, the authors identify a core problem in Hillary’s campaign. Beyond the obvious, power and leftist agendas, Hillary could not honestly define why she wanted to be President. Trump on the other hand had a simple definition. He wanted to make America great again.

Let’s work that a moment. The Russian Bolshevik revolution of 1919 swirled with chaos, confusion, and murder. In the Secret Wife, a historical fiction book, one meets characters ranging from Lenin, the Reds, White Army Commanders, Rasputin, and the men who killed Rasputin. Refusing to answer the “Why” question, the Bolshevik coup after Russian elections ensured they never had to answer that question. Executing the Tsar’s family simply sealed that question into unmarked graves and the Soviets’ killing fields.

My point is that the left does an excellent job of defining right and wrong within their own agendas and man centered beliefs. A good Socialist is self-defined, as is a moral socialist. We see this played out across main stream media. Their stories hammering the right, conservative candidates, and the President spring from their self-definitions. They use the velocity of information to end run around journalistic integrity, easily resorting to the lies they hold dear, justifying their means through their ends. Quoting George Frieden again, “All lies are equally true.” I think Democrats were as surprised as anyone that the Atlanta district special election – and the other special elections – proved to be Democratic Party disasters.

Jonathan Cahn summarizes,

Beware of the good Nazi…Because they compared themselves by the standard they themselves created. Each, in his own eyes, was a good Nazi, a moral Nazi, a decent Nazi, a religious Nazi, and a Nazi no worse than the next. For by seeing themselves in their own eyes, they become blind. But their judgement would come in the form of destruction, and their sins would be exposed before the world…You can never judge yourself by your own standards and your own righteousness, but only in the light of His righteousness.

When Johnson’s “Whiz Kids” in McNamara’s Department of Defense set out to fight Viet Nam the way we fought World War II, the truths of asymmetric warfare proved as devastating to their perceptions as B-52 bomb runs on non-existent targets. Mark Bowden chronicles the velocity of information, made-up body counts, and how the compromise of integrity brought the war to the disaster of Hue in 1968. After that battle, American Commanders and politicians never spoke of victory. Only of how to get out.

Beware the good Socialist whether in office or anchoring a mass media show.

Clearchus

Cleaning gear and equipment after a great vacation in the Rocky Mountains.

photo credit: dalecruse Chinatown via photopin (license)

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Clearchus

Clearchus is the author of three Science Fiction books: Sunigin, Insurgio and Certo (Available at Amazon) about the next Texas Revolution. He is a retired Army Field Artilleryman who was one of the last men in the U.S. Army to command an M110 8" Howitzer firing battery. He currently designs computer networks for commercial, non-profit, and government environments. Married for 32 years to the most gorgeous babe he knows, he and his wife have four kids. Their lives and perspectives straddle military assignments, combat tours, and mission trips across Europe, Asia, and the Horn of Africa.

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