Sun Tzu deals with employment and use of spies in Art of War, Chapter XIII:
“Be subtle! be subtle! And use your spies for every kind of warfare.”
“(On) the use of spies . . . there are five classes: Local spies; Inward spies; Converted spies; Doomed spies; Surviving spies . . . . . . Inward spies (are) making use of officials of the enemy.”
The battle for votes that was fought by ACORN in city streets last summer and by lawyers in Minnesota this spring is in its final phase in the halls of the Capitol. The leaders of the Democratic Party fought skillfully, and are now in full control of the remaining branches of government. Battle lines are drawn in the U.S. Senate, where votes are counted on the fingers of one hand.
Despite the massive tax-and-spend bills that were ramroded through Congress without having been read, pundits now say the "cap-and-trade" climate change and healthcare bills are too extreme to pass, and will be shot down in the Senate. The reality is the contest is too close to call. The question is not will the bills pass - I'm afraid they will - but just how far Team Obama is willing to go to achieve their aims. The Chicago political steamroller has come this far – why should they let a few U.S. Senators stand in their way?
The Art and Science of politics was written by Machiavelli. Illicit sex and drugs flow like milk and honey in Washington D.C; just think how easy it could be to ensnare a U.S. Senator in a blackmail scheme, thereby securing their vote on a critical issue.
Any politician must be constantly on guard against his own moral weaknesses, lest agents of the opposition take advantage of them. Succumbing to temptation even once makes a political figure vulnerable to compromise. In many cases, careful surveillance alone is enough to compromise an individual.
The Senator thus entrapped has the option of maintaining his privileged position as long as he votes a certain way on a few critical bills. The alternative is political ruin - resignation in disgrace or defeat at the next general election, to be followed by divorce and financial ruin.
The list of politicians disgraced by recent sex scandals is lengthy. Of course blackmail is illegal; so is stuffing ballot boxes. But don't expect to read anything like this in the press; they are willing accomplices. Consider how John Edward's affair was ignored by all except the National Enquirer (!); yet any Republican Senator's transgression is breaking news.
“To Betray, One Must First Belong” – US Dept of Defense Counter-Intelligence Truism.
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Team STORMBRINGER contributer VA Shepard wrote this post - S.L.
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