I don’t know about you, but I was blindsided by the 2024 election results. Now, several weeks after the calamity, as the talking heads talk and as the pundits pontificate, I am impressed both by the insights I am getting from some and by the bullshit I am hearing from others.
Please let me suggest to you, respectfully, that, on the political journey that awaits us, the first and foremost mental tools we need are unflinching commitment to situational awareness, shrewd evaluation of the evolving political situation, and creative thought about what coalitions are needed to create a new, rational majority.
In that vein, let me suggest that we learn some utterly vital wisdom from Sunzi, from Confucius, and from Rabbi Jesus.
Know Your Side, Know Your Adversary
Sunzi (Sun Tzu, Master Sun), the ancient Chinese military strategist, said “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
Translation: if you are in a war, and if you actually want to win the war, then you had better know all the facts, and you had better put aside your cognitive biases.
And What Exactly Does it Mean to “Know” the Facts?
From Confucius (Kongzi, Master Kong) we gain this vital insight about what it means to “know” something: “To know what you know and to know what you do not know—that is true knowledge.”
Translation: while you’re being about knowing your side and knowing your adversary, be damn sure that what you think you know is really true.
Because remember Sunzi’s last point: if you’re acting on false “knowledge” about your side and about your adversary, then you’re going to lose every single battle.
Implication: As you try to be situationally aware—as you describe the current political crisis to others—be very, very conscious of the difference between a good working hypothesis, as distinguished from an established fact.
And be very, very conscious of the difference between a good working hypothesis and a mere plausible speculation.
Because if you mistake a hypothesis or a plausible speculation for an established fact, then you are probably going to screw up big time.
How Metaphorical Sheep Deal with Metaphorical Wolves
To these hard sayings from Master Sun and from Master Kong, Rabbi Jesus adds this vital instruction, in the form of a startlingly mixed simile: “Behold, I send you out as sheep among wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”
Translation: as you face danger, use clever strategy and tactics to defeat the bad actors, all the while maintaining your moral innocence.
Facing MAGA 