By contrast, George Washington knew better than to go muzzle-to-muzzle with superior British forces in an open field. He followed what was known as the “Fabian Strategy” (named for the Roman leader Quintus Fabius Maximus), avoiding large, unwinnable battles in favor of smaller strategic engagements. As historian James Scythes explains it, “unless his army enjoyed a distinct advantage, Washington believed he must avoid direct battle” and “instead resorted to swift raids against detachments of the enemy’s army.” In the Battle of Princeton, for example, Washington knew he could not defeat Cornwallis’s 8,000-man force in direct combat. So he left his campfires burning as a diversionary tactic, snuck around the British camp, and took on the British in a series of smaller rear-guard engagements.

For taking this cautious approach, Washington was accused by some at the time of being a RINO (“Revolutionary in Name Only”). Scythes writes, “Critics of his strategy would grow impatient with Washington’s lack of victories, which would lead to frustration amongst patriots.” They wanted him to fight! But despite his aggressive nature, Washington refused to send his troops on suicide missions. His Fabian Strategy worked because he picked smaller, winnable fights and defeated the British in a war of attrition.

This is precisely the approach today’s patriots should have taken in the fight against Obamacare. Shutting down the government had zero chance of succeeding, and it played right into Democratic hands.