The Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary defines the British phrase “muddling through” as: “to manage to do something although you are not organized or prepared to do it.” It’s a phrase popularized by a story involving Winston Churchill in the early years of World War II. Political theorist Leo Strauss tells this story in a 2007 article in the Review of Politics:
“I may refer to the story told in England of H.G. Wells meeting Winston Churchill and asking about the progress of the war. ‘We’re getting along with our idea’, said Churchill. ‘You have an idea?’ asked Wells. ‘Yes’, said Churchill, ‘along the lines of our general policy’. ‘You have a general policy?’ Wells persisted. ‘Yes’, answered Churchill, ‘the K.M.T. policy’. ‘And what is the K.M.T. policy?’ asked Wells. ‘It is this’, replied Churchill, ‘Keep Muddling Through’.”
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