On 2017-03-21, Jim Wilkins wrote:

wrote in message
...
We're getting some social and political lessons right now about
"alternative facts" and alternative realities, and the import
of the big, particular case we're living through at the moment
tends to sharpen one's attention to how this all works. Big consequences
tend to focus the mind.
..................
--
Ed Huntress
=======================

"Alternative facts" that the French were too proud and arrogant
to recognize as such provoked the war that resulted in WW1 and
WW2. Afterwards they refused to accept that they had been so easily
baited into declaring a war they couldn't win, and prepared for
revenge. The modern Olympics were intended to condition their
young men for the rematch with Germany
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ems_Dispatch
"His editing, he assured his friends, "would have the effect of
a red rag on the Gallic [French] bull."

Otto von Bismarck is worth studying for his mastery of the art
of politics.

The most well-known v. Bismarck helped cause Napolean's downfall. Von Bismarck, who pioneered socialism, like LBJ, brought in realpolitik and their own study of Macciavelli ... which is the 'end' justifies the 'means'.

Essentially, you're studying a pioneer of pragmatic socialism, a highly-pampered and titled nobleman who liked the military, and who studied Macciavelli and the law.