Note From Nimitz: You Need Lots Of Ships To Take Risks In War
ByJames HolmesPublished1 day ago
Navy photo)Niccolò Machiavelli, meet Chester Nimitz. In his Discourses on Roman history the Renaissance Florentine philosopher-statesman claimed that human beings do not relish change. In fact, he verges on saying people can’t change as the times and surroundings change around them. They get stuck as events march on.
Thankfully for World War II America, Fleet Admiral Nimitz was an exception to the Machiavellian rule.
Machiavelli was right to fret, though. Stasis is dangerous amid flux. A society can come to grief if individuals allergic to adaptation wield positions of high authority. An authoritarian society stands in particular peril. After all, there’s no one to remove an authoritarian ruler from office when circumstances shift. A more liberal society finds it easier to adapt because—even though individuals may not change—a liberal society can replace people who have fallen behind the times with others fit for the times.
In so doing an open society gives itself a fighting chance in times of menace.
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2022/07/note-from-nimitz-you-need-lots-of-ships-to-take-risks-in-war/
