When I teach National Security
or Homeland Security (as I have been doing full or part time for the last 19
years), I always begin by daring the students to guess my personal politics. I
tell them that it is the job of a professor and a strategist to do honest
research and follow inquiry and logic where they lead, without imparting his
own personal spin to the facts. A professor in particular has a moral
responsibility to see that his/her students hear all sides of an argument. The
only way they can develop a sense of strategic right and wrong is to seriously
consider multiple course of action, and follow them all to their logical
conclusions. Some ideas that sound right will turn out to be very wrong in the
end. Thus the most powerful tool any strategist has is honest inquiry – it is a
tool I try to use wisely in my blog about strategy, http://thinkingenemy.blogspot.com/ .
That is not my intent in this
blog. Yes I will do my best to apply
honest, rigorous, independent analysis to the issues I consider. But I do so
from an openly traditional, Lockean, Western Judeo-Christian perspective on the
Nature of Man. That is, I believe that Man (and Woman) has a dual nature:
inclined to act savagely as Hobbes predicted, waging “the warre of man against all men” unless
controlled; but, with the proper moral education, capable of cooperation,
self-control, and even altruism .
Thus self-governance is possible
with a maximum of freedom and a minimum of government interference. But only in
a system that emphases individual morality and responsibility, and
systemic openness, oversight and balance
of power.
The concept of morality is a key
component of this perspective, and it is not to be equated with ethics. Ethical
guidelines are an invention of man. They are frequently designed to identify
boundaries precisely so that individuals know how far they can press their own
advantage without incurring consequences to themselves. Morality, on the other
hand, implies the existence of a higher power that has ordained at least the
general boundaries of right and wrong. I believe that these moral boundaries
are ordained by our Creator in the same way that our rights are endowed from
the same source. Along with a logic
consistent with truth, this moral understanding of the Nature of Man forms the basis for all successful strategy,
policy, doctrine, administration and justice.
And so I will think and write
from that perspective, challenging you, dear friend, to think for yourself. I
hope you enjoy the exercise.
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