Jason Chaffetz on Life

Political pundits between the beltways were somewhat shocked to hear that five term Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT 3rd) had decided not to run for another term.  Chaffetz had gained prominence becoming the House Government Reform Committee Chair, and had quixotically threw his hat in the ring in October 2015 when former Speaker John Boehner (R-OH 8th) was ousted from the Speaker's chair, What was more jarring was the fact that Chaffetz suggested that he might not finish out his term. 

Since the fifty year old Rep. Chaffetz is politically youthful and ambitious, some have suggested that he is making this move to earn some good money for his family before launching a gubernatorial campaign in Utah in 2020.  Others have worried that deep state intelligence agencies have something on him.  After all, the Secret Service leaked embarrassing employment information which Obama Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson had to apologize for in 2015 

Intellectual Gymnastics to Avoid Uttering "Islamic Extremism"

The Aspen Institute is a non-profit leadership organization which aspire to foster open-minded dialogue on contemporary issues.  Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson's cautious comments about not associating ISIS (The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) with Islam showed that one can be so open minded that one's brain falls out.

 Of course, Johnson's conceptual contortions about not naming radical Islam is nothing new.  Avoiding utterances that could be construed as blanket condemnations of the so called "Religion of Peace" (even though Islam is better translated is "Submission") dates back to President George W. Bush after the September 11th 2001 terror attacks.  Western "leaders" have seemed congenitally skiddish about associating plethora of attacks with perpetrators shouting "Allahu Akbar" with Islam.

 

 Is this reluctance to utter reality because our elites are indoctrinated in political correctness and employ a "real world" version of the UNH Bias Free Language Guide?  Maybe it is the progressive hubris that by changing the lexicon one can alter inherent attitudes.  Or maybe there is the realization that when implemented Islam is a holistic religious and political system and by associating the violence with the religion it enlists otherwise unenthusiastic adherents.

 But as Sun Tzu wrote in "The Art of War"  in the Sixth Century BC "Know your enemy and know yourself, find naught in fear for 100 battles. Know yourself but not your enemy, find level of loss and victory. Know thy enemy but not yourself, wallow in defeat every time."