Huainanzi - Entry 41

Trey Smith

Rulers of disorderly nations strive to expand their territory; they do not strive for humanity and justice. They strive to elevate their status; they do not strive for the virtue of the Way. This is abandoning the means of survival and creating the causes of destruction.
~ a passage from The Book of Leadership and Strategy by Thomas Cleary ~

I considered combining this quote from the Huainanzi with the snippet from Glenn Greenwald's column for my earlier post today, but decided to let each stand on its own.

What US leaders have committed our nation to is the expansion of territory. It's not that we wish to annex the lands we conquer; it has far more to do with claiming their natural resources (predominantly, oil) for our plunder. Put another way, our sole aim is to annex these nations economically.

If you look at the various countries we've invaded and/or attacked over the past few years, all of them possess a natural resource we covet. Nations like North Korea -- who have nothing we want -- aren't attacked. The late North Korean leader was just as much as a despotic tyrant as Iraq's Hussein or Libya's Qaddafi, yet we were willing to try to negotiate with him!

Both the Bible and the Tao Te Ching have passages that basically say that those who live by the sword will die by the sword. Since the US has the biggest sword and we use it quite often, how do you think we're going to end up?

To read the introduction to this ongoing series, go here.