I just watched a video by Stefan Molyneux about George Washington, where his general assessment of him was that he was almost a complete failure but managed to be successful despite his losses. I am not disputing Stefan’s facts, but he is missing the point. I watched another video of Stefan’s where he talked about our failures in the middle east, and against the Islamic radicals, but I think he again misses the point. In this video he points out that ISIS can cause America to spend billions just by spending a few thousand with a terrorist attack. He argues that their goal is to disrupt our economy, and they have been successful. He also points out that we typically start with these people being our friends, but later, after we have armed them and enabled them, they turn against us. Again, this is all true, but he is still missing the point.
What is the point? The point is, to win the war! Winning battles does not necessarily mean you will win the war. No where in is history is this more apparent than during WW2. This is why you will not hear much criticism from me for Franklin Roosevelt. What he did, was allow the Japanese win victory after victory for the first 2 years of the conflict. We did win a few battles in the beginning, but generally, we lost. I am sure some at the time questioned our involvement (probably privately) because it looked like we were losing until 1944 rolled around. Then, we started to win. Not only did we win, but we won BIG. The cost of losing in the beginning was a lot of lives and material, but later the costs were much lower. As it turned out, losing over and over in the beginning over-extended the Japanese to the point where their supply lines became vulnerable to our submarines, and the small numbers of troops left on the islands were more easily overcome. WW2 became a war of attrition for both the Japanese and the Germans.
I believe the same was true for the Revolutionary war. The British army was vastly superior to ours, and in general, we could NOT beat them all things being equal. Washington’s job, was not to beat a superior force, but to make every victory to be a costly one. He did that, while having massive problems with his own army. They deserted, the government wouldn’t pay them, he had a shortage of experienced officers, he had supply problems, and every time he lost, he had to deal with the political ramifications. He did not succeed because he was lucky, but because he persisted despite all odds. Yes, some of the other generals won some critical victories, but they were easy ones. Washington won the war.
Another example was the Viet Nam war. We lost that war right? Well, the war wasn’t really against the North Vietnamese, it was REALLY against the expansion of communism! Yes, we lost, but communism also lost, because after the war ended, communism lost its momentum, and 20 years later, we won the war with the fall of the Berlin wall.
In a way, the fight with Muslim radicals is the same as the fight against communism. We win just by standing up to them. Yes, we have lost some battles, but every time we lose, Muslim radicals lose support. The reality is, they kill more of their fellow Muslims than they kill Americans and Europeans. Their terror attacks are more successful and more inexplicable against other Muslims than they are against us. This is why people in Iraq and Afghanistan may still hate us, but they really don’t want to support the radicals any more, because they know as soon as the radicals stop, we will go away. This is why we need to continue the war on terror even though there are no clear victories and the people there still hate us. If we don’t, we may end up fighting WW3 against a Caliphate instead of fighting a bunch of terrorists.
WW2 is also a case study into why you should always resist aggressive counties right away. In the case of Germany and Japan, we did not resist them at all. If England and France had sent troops to the Rhineland in 1936 and if America had sent troops to Manchuria we probably would not have had to fight WW2 at all. WW2 destroyed Germany and Japan, unleashed the atomic bomb, and killed 70 million human beings. It was horrible! Regional conflicts are costly, but are nothing compared with world war.
Free counties NEED to resist aggressive countries EVERY time. Putin may still have the Crimea, but has paid a huge economic price and he is anxious to get them lifted. This is one of the good things that Obama did while he was president.
This rule also applies to the situation that president Trump is in right now. He wants to “drain the swamp”, but needs to endure the alligators too. We all remember that famous quote, “It is difficult to remember that your goal is to drain the swamp when you are up to your ass is alligators!” Trump needs to remember his goal. He may lose some battles, but the goal is to drain the swamp and win the war.
Mostly, this principal applies to us as well. We sin, get depressed, and suffer due to our own actions, and sometimes forget, that the Christian goal is to win the war and go to heaven and be with Jesus for eternity and realize that we will not to win every battle with our flesh. We need to not give up, confess our sins, and remain till the end. We need to be that “virgin” who has oil for her lamp when the bridegroom comes for us!
