Overstating obvious. Depriving any person of life, liberty, or property is serious business. Right or wrong, I distinguish between premeditated killing and murder.
Man sends people to fly planes into buildings to end lives of civilians is premeditated murder. Tracking that man down and ending his life is premeditated killing.
Question, did David kill or murder Goliath?
Conservatives are well served by remembering that when out numbered in winner survives and loser does not survive scenarios; being smarter can determine final results.
America’s culture war is a winner take all struggle between American ethics and third world ethics.
Third world bad guys and third world ideologies often have no problem exploiting children in culture wars.
When was last time you heard of Americans giving grenades to children to put in flower baskets to murder "enemies of our cause?"
Third world terrorists as well as some American political groups have no problem exploiting children to achieve political objectives.
Why would these individuals and groups put children in dangerous or degrading situations, simply because they know most Americans place value on lives and well being of children.
First step in improving odds in any confrontation is correctly identifying, learning, and understanding as much as possible about bad guys.
A cursory summary of America’s good guys and enemies.
Home Team: conservatives who generally believe in God, country, family, and Constitution specifically The Bill of Rights. You pick the order.
Visiting Teams: Islamic Fascist Terrorists, Marxist or Socialist Revolutionaries, international gangs, illegal colonists, imperialist militaristic nations, new world order internationalist corporations, closet socialist liberals, counterfeit conservatives, and any other group or organization that places their interests or ideology above as President Jackson used to say “equal opportunity without privilege.”
Key phase being without privilege. All of visiting teams seem possessed by the belief that they are entitled to be masters of what is politically correct.
Expressed in contemporary words, visiting teams hate American ideals just because the ideals are American.
Unfortunate reality is that Americans are not currently winning the culture war to save their sacred Republic and some believe Heaven inspired ideals. There is truth in adage, as goes the Ten Commandments and Bill of Rights so goes the war.
More cursory examples:
1. Abandoning American POW’s in Colombia,
2. Prosecuting U.S. military personnel on testimony of enemies,
3. Convicting U.S. law enforcement agents on testimony of foreign drug smugglers,
4. Convicting Vice-President’s Staff because President is unpopular,
5. Current case before U.S. Supreme Court to allow public school officials to punish unpopular student speech off school property and at non- school events.
Pending student free speech case before America’s highest court if decided in favor of public school bureaucrats could be abused to allow public bureaucrats to punish students for attending religious services that do not condone homosexual behavior.
Scoff if you like, when was last time any government bureaucracy ever under enforced a law that involved conservatives?
In recent times, Americans were prosecuted for crimes involving: murder, robbery, rape, assault, threatening public safety, or crimes against property.
In contemporary times, Americans are persecuted by America’s legal system based on accusations of unpopularity. Were not people like Socrates, Jesus, Joan of Arc, and Luther also persecuted for not being popular?
What is the difference between those abuses and abandoning U.S. POW’s in Colombia; over zealous prosecutions of: U.S. Military Personnel serving in Iraq and U.S. Border Patrol Agents along America’s southern Border or Executive Branch Staff?
Every non counterfeit conservative in America needs to understand sooner or later any criminal justice system persecuting citizens based on unpopularity not criminal activity will eventually show up at your home during middle of night.
Those generally immune from politically correct prosecutions will be socialists, liberals, counterfeit conservatives (moneylenders and internationalists), abusive public bureaucrats, anti-Western religion zealots, and anybody else who hates traditional American values.
Could be wrong, does that pretty well leave only patriots and conservatives for prosecutors building their careers on conviction ratios?
In matters of power politics there are winners, no silver, no bronze, no honorable mention, and losers. American conservatives even though out numbered by worse odds than those serving inside walls of the Alamo can still save Heaven’s favorite Republic by being smarter than visiting teams.
A good place to begin is by patiently picking right battles and adopting appropriate strategies. One intense strategy suitable for discussion purposes follows:
It takes large amounts of money to gather intelligence which is vital to national security. Knowing who bad guys are and what they are doing, requires having people on inside.
Often, objectives can only be achieved by adopting rules of infiltrated culture. Rules for protecting national security and preserving domestic tranquility are different.
One of up close and personal tactics accepts two premises. First there will always be people with vices, and there will always be people who profit from these vices.
Co-opted black market profits serve two purposes: save tax payers money and keep intelligence agents in contact with people who do business with terrorists.
A more complex up close and personal tactic accepts premise that once the time for talking has passed, there are only three options: run and hide, stand off tactics, or hit and run.
Napoleon’s version of hit and run requires decimating first target with dazzling speed and methodical ferocity. Napoleon’s divide and conquer strategies as brilliant as they were, depended on insuring that first target attacked did not recover and appear on home team’s flank.
Not finishing off first target, creates unnecessary threats that have to be dealt with later. Marshall’s social power formula can help identify first target.
Perhaps a more cost effective hit and run tactic would be to use pro-active counter intelligence activities to create mistrust and hatred between enemy allies. Letting enemy sides fight it out, makes it easier for home team to manage and destroy weaker winning enemy ally.
Citizens should never forget that working behind enemy lines is not a movie or sporting event. Working behind enemy lines is about challenging reality and winning.
Enough theory, there has been considerable recent chatter about America needing a leader. Being more specific, America does not need a leader.
What America needs is a patriotic conservative leader who … at this point I will defer to TCV readers and their criteria for a hopefully soon filled position.