“The bigger lesson is that rules do not exist in a vacuum. There are tradeoffs, costs vs benefits, and there are multiple goals we are trying to achieve. To take a regulation as an end in itself is short-sighted. Someone concerned with things like national strategy (which we civilians are priveleged to do) should think more broadly.”
I simply do not agree rules are for everyone OR nobody this is not some PC game.
"Wha'cha talking about. Willis?"
There are rules of grammar and punctuation intended to make the writer's meaning clear.
Yet you seem to not care about following them. Or the result of such ignorance.
No, its not a PC game. Its part of a complex balancing of costs and benefits in an arena where culture, national strategy, alliances, public relations, institutional planning and a host of other factors play into it.
This is NOT just a narrow military issue, much less just one of tactical matters or institutional convenience.
I always thought the thing that distinguished Conservatives from Liberals was the willingness and ability to look at the big picture and the scope of history, leading to an accurate view of the reality of human nature.