By Thomas Madison
During our War of Independence against King George a revolutionary (pun intended) method of warfare was introduced by the dissident American rebels, which they had learned from the native Americans. The accepted battle doctrine of the time involved opposing armies, rank upon rank, shoulder to shoulder, marching slowly and deliberately toward one another, dressed smartly and brightly to make themselves splendid targets, and when within range, halting and firing upon one another. Obviously the casualty rate was horrendous, but this was the valorous method of conducting battle at the time. Honor was everything, and this was the honorable method of settling national conflicts.
The Brits were shocked and amazed by the dishonorable, ragtag American rebels, who fought from covered positions, camouflaged and spread out to make targeting more difficult. From the rebel perspective it was like shooting fish in a barrel. The Brits never learned, maintaining their honor by continuing to fight a modern war in an obsolete fashion, and losing the war as a result. So much for honor.
Fast forward 230 years and we contemporary Americans find ourselves in a similar situation, except in a reverse role. We are the overwhelmingly better equipped, better trained military force, which is being frustrated by a much smaller, poorly equipped guerilla force. In this seemingly endless “War on Terror,” we are ineffectively repeating our tried and tested method of victory, the method of superior force, followed by diplomacy and generosity that turned enemies like Germany and Japan into allies and global economic powers. Unfortunately, that strategy isn’t working with our present enemy. Honor is a foreign concept to them. Their entire doctrine, from small unit tactics to global strategy, is based upon victory! Nothing more. No honor, no generosity, no prisoners. As a result of our stale, though honorable, yesteryear thinking and planning, we are losing.
Our enemy hides behind their women and children, a most dishonorable act to Westerners. They couldn’t care less what we think of their less-than-honorable tactics. They behead Christians, they behead women, they behead children. They eat the hearts of their enemies. Are they insane? It doesn’t matter. It is all a part of their ultimate plan for victory. As legendary UCLA football coach Red Sanders said, “Winning isn’t everything. It’s the ONLY thing!” We MUST adjust our tactics and strategy to meet this current demon. I believe politicians are incapable of this adjustment. It must happen in the upper leadership of our military, which I find myself losing faith in.
So, how does all of this relate to the current American political landscape? Like this. We are, for the most part (over 90%), a two-party political system. We have Democrats. We have Republicans. Anyone else is persona non grata. There are other so-called political parties but they lack the support and funding of the Big Two. Most notably, the Tea Party and the Libertarian Party have offered the most formidable third-party opposition, which doesn’t amount to much, but, as a result of their mostly right-wing ideologies, it has amounted to enough votes drained from GOP candidates in important state and national elections to swing those elections to the Democrats. A recent example is the Virginia gubernatorial election, where Terry McAuliffe defeated Ken Cuccinelli by a razor-thin 1% margin as a result of Libertarian Party candidate Robert Sarvis snatching 6.6% of the vote, nearly all of which came from conservative voters, who, had there not been a third-party candidate, would most certainly have voted for Cuccinelli. Shades of Ross Perot.
So, If I were influential in the Republican national machine, which I am not, this is what I would be lobbying to do to achieve Republican VICTORY! Many will consider this dishonorable. I don’t care. Winning is the ONLY thing. Without WINNING, nothing else is possible.
Form a fourth party. As the Dems did with Sarvis and the Libertarians in the Virginia election, FUND IT. Let’s call it the “Liberal Party.” The name alone is sure to attract many “progressive” voters and siphon off a significant percentage of votes from Democrat candidates. In any particular election let’s run a candidate who promises give-away after give-away. Free cars, free TVs, free computers, free vacations, free food, free money, free clothes, free bling, free EVERYTHING! There is nothing to worry about. That candidate doesn’t stand a chance of winning an election. He, or she, will, however, snatch a significant percentage of the left wing vote from the Democrat candidate. BOOM! GOP wins! America wins! Are we taking advantage of the low-information, parasitic voter? Yes. Sometimes you have to fight like your enemy, honor be damned!
