A link between Thomas Jefferson, Warfare, and the 2nd law of thermodynamics.

"And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? [...] The tree of liberty must be refreshed [periodically], with the blood of patriots and tyrants; [for these sacrifices are] its natural [fertilizer]." -- Thomas (bad-ass) Jefferson

I just love that quote. It's message is so powerful, that reading it will simultaneously bring a tear of joy to my eye, and ignite a fire in my heart, that endows me with an emotional strength that can move mountains. Yes, Thomas Jefferson was no doubt an intellectual bad-ass, and with the exception of his slave holdings, one of my favorite, if not, my most favored founding father. But the entire group was so chalk-full of high minded, freedom loving intellectuals, that picking a favorite is not an easy task.

Where are men of his caliber today?

He was a rare combination of both intellectual *AND* testicular fortitude, and none exist who possess even a modicum of his talents these days. Heck, I would have followed him into a campaign against even the most formidable of enemies, and achieved victory, or happily died trying. No one seems to have a yearning for glory anymore, much less real freedoms. We're all just a bunch of pathetic and apathetic slaves, waiting for our next menial assignment, or death, whichever comes first. Which reminds me of Aristotle's famous quip: "Tolerance and apathy are the last virtues of a dying society.

Sadly, we are now many generations into Aristotle's warning -- both here in the USA, and more broadly in the "West". Apathy is no longer a fringe menace, no, it has become normalized! And there is no doubt we tolerate far too much from the "enemies of freedom" than we should. Unless we find a way to re-ignite the "fire in our bellies", we will succumb to our own helplessness. It will be as if we hacked off our own arms and our own legs, and then attempted to engage our enemies in warfare. It is hopeless to believe that we can achieve victory by coddling our enemies -- coddling only empowers them! To achieve victory, we must destroy our enemies with extreme prejudice, quickly, and without mercy. And we must never apologize for protecting our "right to exist" by utilizing our superior technology to achieve those ends. War cannot be waged halfheartedly, for it were, it would violate the "lesson" of the 2nd Law Of Thermodynamics.

A THOUGHT EXPERIMENT REGARDING CONFLICT (aka: war)

War is synonymous with "thermodynamic processes", in that, the proverbial manifestation of war presents us with opposing "thermodynamic bodies" (aka: armies, or more generally, sides), which are initially isolated within rooms that exist within a greater "house of conflict". Think of the "conflict of war" as a large house, a house containing two or more rooms, and in each room resides an army, an army who's sole directive is to seek and destroy it's enemies who are occupying the adjacent rooms. However, the armies cannot initiate the fighting themselves, because none of the armies possess the power to breach the walls, so they must quietly wait for an external force to break-down these walls, before they can begin fighting (aka: mixing). We can think of the walls as being constructed of an impermeable substance called peace. And until the "walls of peace" are broken down, say, via political turmoil, the armies are forced to sit silently and wait.

We need to also observe that when the armies initially marched into their respective rooms, the rooms were filled with the noise and chaos of their movements, but now the rooms have become silent, or in "thermodynamic terms", each room has reached a "state of equilibrium". But equilibrium is a subjective term, and does not in any way insinuate that all the rooms share the same amount of measurable energy. For instance: even though the ambient temperature/moisture levels in each room may be different (because of more, or less human bodies), or the stench level may be different (because some soldiers bathe more than others), the smells and temperatures in each room have "mixed down" to a point where they cannot mix any more. Therefore, each room as reached its own "unique state of equilibrium".

For the sake of pragmatism, we will ignore dynamic events such as flatulence, and assume the armies are in a state of "suspended animation".

So far, we've defined a structure (a house and some rooms) and the bodies (armies) that will facilitate a "thermodynamic-like process", but nothing will happen until we allow the armies to mix. We need an event that be the impetus of the thermodynamic process, which will lead us to the inevitable conclusion of our little lesson today... BREAKING NEWS: POLITICAL TURMOIL ERUPTS, AND THE WALLS OF PEACE ARE NOW DESTROYED... When the "walls of peace" are broken down, all of the armies find themselves immediately contained in a single, large room. Chaos quickly ensues, and as the armies engage in battle and "mix each small victory between two soldiers down" until their entire struggle reaches the ultimate "equilibrium of victory", the lesson of the 2nd law of thermodynamics is observed.

BUT WHAT IS THE LESSON RICK?

The lesson is: From the moment that the "walls of peace" are broken down, and up until the moment that absolute victory has been achieved, we must never interrupt the "equalizing process" by rebuilding the walls. Because when we fight against our enemies, and we are unwilling to achieve absolute victory (aka: equilibrium), the potential for future "thermodynamic energy exchange" (aka: war) is ever-present!

We can see fine examples of our past failures, and the "thermodynamic potential" they present, when observing the never ending "war on terror" and the never ending stalemate on the Korean peninsula, and when we juxtapose those two unresolved conflicts against the decisive victories over Japan and Germany --> WE SHALL BECOME ENLIGHTENED!

Ever heard of a Japanese or German terrorist attacking the West? Well, if you have, he was not motivated by WW2. Therefore, thermodynamics teaches us that we must achieve absolute victory at all costs, because if we do not achieve absolute victory, we will be forced to fight the war again, and again, until equilibrium is finally achieved.

These are the laws that govern the universe in which we live, so we would be wise to learn from them. Sure, we may not want to accept their cold bitter realities, but we are bound by their rules nonetheless.