Sun Tzu's Sun Tzu's strategy is not only a competitive philosophy, but it is inherently a growth philosophy. By definition, there is no such thing as "holding" a position because the ground on which all positions are based erodes over time. As I read this post in the Conspiracy to Keep You Poor and Stupid, , I was struck by the phrase, "anti-America, anti-growth and anti-life..." because it precisely captures what elitists of all stripes misunderstand what it means to be alive. Or, more precisely, it captures what elitists subconsciously assume that they are entitled to but what they consciously espouse denying to "ordinary" people. When I was in grammar school, I was taught the six defining elements of life: cells (except for viruses), organization, use of energy, homeostasis (internal control), growth, and reproduction. If we look at the various counter-culture "anti-this-and-that" movements, they are as their root against many (if not all) of these elements. Sun Tzu's strategy differentiates clearly between internal homeostasis and external competition. The common mistake of confusing planning with strategy arises because people don't understand the the controlled conditions within an organization are different than on the outside. While elitists think homeostasis is a general state while it is really a specialized condition within an organization. However, these same elitist claim to hate voluntary organizations such as corporation. Why? Because corporates represent large, voluntary groups of people. In free societies, large voluntary groups have power. Elitists think that power should be reserved for special groups not just groups that are large. The survival of any living thing requires the use of energy to maintain its cells, its organization, and its homeostasis. However, living things can only get their energy from the environment, which requires success in competition, which demands even more energy. Strategy, of course, is designed to minimize the energy used to find success. The current war against energy use via the campaign against "global warming" is inherently an anti-life position. I am all for finding more efficient ways to use energy because that is the whole purpose of strategy, but as China becomes the number one producer of carbon emissions, we are seeing a fact of nature: life uses energy. Radical environmentalists are really at war with the increasing volume of human life. This bring us to growth and reproduction. We can really consider this as just growth, because reproduction is just a form of growth. Those who are against growth are also anti-life. Why do all organism grow? Because in the absense of growth either in size or through reproduction, organisms die. Like all organisms, societies that stop growing will die as well, overtaken by those societies who understand that growth is the measure of our vitality.