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April 2008
Elsewhere on the WebVictor Davis Hanson’s Private Papers Victor Davis Hanson Archive on National Review OnlineTour Books
A War Like No Other How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War
by Victor Hanson
Amazon.com’s Best of 2001 Many theories have been offered regarding why Western culture has spread so successfully across the world, with arguments ranging from genetics to superior technology to the creation of enlightened economic, moral, and political systems. In Carnage and Culture, military historian Victor Hanson takes all of these factors into account in making a bold, and sure to be controversial, argument: Westerners are more effective killers.
by Victor Davis Hanson
by Victor Davis Hanson
by Victor Davis Hanson
by Victor Davis Hanson, John Keegan Hanson, for those who somehow have missed him until now, is a professor of Classics at California State and also is a part time farmer, both of which have contributed to his writing as a military historian. As a classicist, Hanson is well versed in the sources in their original Greek, and as a farmer he understands how agriculture affected the experience of the Greeks at war.
by Victor Davis Hanson
by Victor Davis Hanson
Hanson relates the life stories of his farmer neighbors, writing that their way of life will likely soon disappear, thanks in part to a federal system of agricultural subsidies that favors large-scale, industrial farm corporations over individual “yeomen.” This is a sobering and eye-opening book. by Victor Davis Hanson On first glance, The Soul of Battle appears to be three different books: biographies of two well-known generals—Sherman and Patton—and one who is virtually unknown today, the ancient Greek leader Epaminondas. Yet Victor Davis Hanson, a classics professor and author of The Western Way of War, makes a compelling connection between these three men. They were “eccentrics, considered unbalanced or worse by their own superiors” who led democratic armies on missions of freedom.
by Robert B. Strassler (Editor), Victor Davis Hanson (Introduction)
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April 2, 2008 5:04 PM
Interesting TimesWhat’s Real? Suddenly the 6-billion-person planet is realizing again that it is not hedge funds, currency trading, or even stocks that make the world run, but food, fuel, and metals. Suddenly the world needs more wildcatters, farmers, and miners and less investment bankers and stock traders. We can’t live in cyberspace, but apparently need to eat, keep warm, and find shelter for a bit longer. A trader and speculator at Bear Stearns won’t keep us fed and fueled, but more likely someone a bit more uncouth and tougher on a tractor or derrick. The most ostensible reason for this rush for food, fiber, is usually cited as two billion Chinese and Indians, and another billion together in South America and Asia, wanting the same lifestyle as Westerners enjoy and they now are starting to have the money to bid for the resources to make it happen. I hope our children get the message as their high school test scores plummet, college remediation classes spread— and I-pods and DVD sales keep strong. Lessons (So Far) From the Campaign We learned no one quite knew, ‘What’s a conservative?’ It was easy to grumble that John McCain—after his McCain-Feingold campaign legislation and McCain-Kennedy immigration reform package—was not. But who was? Gov. Romney had governed Massachusetts from the center. Mike Huckabee was more a populist than a tax-cutter. All evoked Ronald Reagan; none remembered that Reagan has signed amnesty for illegal aliens, increased the size of government, and at times raised taxes. Is the Republican Party running against, for, or parallel to incumbent President George Bush? Government grew 30% under his watch. We embraced a neo-Wilsonian idealism abroad of fostering democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq, and at home wanted to offer amnesty to illegal aliens. And yet he was tough on terrorism, cut taxes and opposed stem cell research, abortion, gay marriage, and liberal judges. Was he a centrist, moderate, or wayward conservative Republican? Democrats? Plenty of lessons. Bill Clinton (even before the release of his tax returns) threw away his carefully reconstructed legacy. It took him nearly eight years to recover from impeachment, Monica, and the pardons, by smiling, holstering his pointy finger, suppressing tantrums, touring with George Bush, Sr. and becoming a “citizen of the world.” And now he is back as the old partisan hack, with infantile temper tantrums, trying everything from the race card to the loyal spouse of Hillary to “I suffered all this for you” complex. All and anything to get back in the limelight. Too late, it’s over. Hillary was proven almost pathological in not being able to tell the truth—odd, since a cornerstone of her campaign was the supposed duplicity and mendacity surrounding Iraq. She has played hardball and so will end the Clintons, for a while at least. Her legacy? By running as she did, she turned all her leftist apologists into Clinton-haters and rewrote the history of the 1990s. But wait—is that fair? Rather her identity campaign was out-identied by race, which always trumps gender preference. Her erstwhile liberal constituents simply dropped her like a stone weight that she had become, an obstacle to their dreams of finally being liked at home and abroad. Obama is a complex figure. Few know anything about him. Michelle and Rev. Wright are now somewhere in the campaign gulag, missing or in limbo. Gone are the fiery, whiney speeches of both. But the damage has been done. The standing ovation Wright now receives, and the angry defense offered for him by black intellectuals, has sent a chilling message that his speech is not eccentric, extreme, or even embarrassing, but spot-on and “get used to it!” Obama’s rationalization and contextualization of Rev. Wright is little more than a vast IED that will soon explode on the national scene. Either the Wright corpus will leak out another hate-filled speech that Obama will tsk-tsk, or someone like an Imus or Michael Richards will blow up, and the nation will suddenly stare at Obama for his response. And if he condemns the one-time racist outburst unequivocally, the nation will brand him a hypocrite for not considering contexts—What was the occasion? Had he said this before? Do we understand the genre in which he navigates? Is he from a group that has historical grievances (woman, Asian, Hispanic, Muslim, gay, Native-American)? Don’t we all have such loose-cannons in our family, an uncle, rabbi, or pastor? That is the racialist legacy of our first transracial candidate, and it’s only a matter of time before the proverbial chickens come home to roost. His second bequest is the notion that he may be elected President without ever saying what he is for. He does not articulate or defend the policies that are written on his website; I doubt he even reads it. He says he is not a liberal, but outside adjudicators rank him the Senate’s most liberal. He ignores associations, and charges McCarthyism when other don’t—but he is intimate with gay-bashing reverends, racist preachers, and unapologetic 60s terrorists. When I see clips of Palestinians trying to raise money for him, there surely is a clear reason. “Hope and change”, the desire for racial atonement, eloquence and charisma—he hopes all that will be enough. We have not yet had one quarter of negative growth, much less two in succession. Inflation, unemployment and interest rates are low. It’s not yet like the 70s when inflation ran 12%, unemployment 7% and interest 18%, despite cheap gas and housing. I’ve gone to two restaurants this week to (very unscientifically) check consumer habits—they were packed with waiting lines., even though Fresno and Selma are not exactly Carmel and Westchester. Weekend traffic remains brisk. I got a bike part the other day, behind someone buying a $1500 bicycle. Hesitation there is, but it seems mostly psychological rather than a result of massive job losses and liquidity. Calendar In New York on Monday, I speak on “unclassical education” and what happened to traditional learning in the university. When Obama calls Wright “brilliant” and a “scholar”, you can see what we have wrought. Comments (11)Ron Kean :GT :Interesting indeed! "What's a conservative" begs the question... what's a liberal socialist. GW and McCain have indeed stretched our comfort zone as "Reagan conservatives." Making things more interesting is not just the "vast IED" Obama has planted under his own campaign but includes the constant pathological self destruction of Hillary. These things combined have liberal socialists far a wide scratching their collective heads (and bleeding scabs) wondering how their beloved ideology/religion could go down in flames with their two favorite comrades at the controls. Maybe we don't need to ask what a liberal socialist is... maybe it is finally self evident. amr :Ah, your writings so much reflect what I see and believe. After hearing the cries of recession is just around the corner for some years, I too keep wondering that if we are in such bad shape economically, why are restaurants full in my rural area of MD. This report, which has been on Mr. Zeifman’s website http://www.jzeifman.com since February, follows her lie about the Bosnia trip being exposed by CBS via the video and the firing story is missing in action. I thought maybe FOX was just missing this latest revelation documented in the blogosphere, however stupid that sounds, so I E-mailed the story to some of their major programs. Unless I have missed it, it is still being ignored by them and the other media outlets. This goes to the heart of what American’s so often say they detest about politicians and claim they do not want; lying to the voters for political gain. But when one gets caught red handed doing this while running for president and has a documented history of such practices, for some reason there is not a nationwide public demand that she withdraw from the election. And then when it is shown she just may be a pathological liar, it is ignored. What does that say about our citizens and the media? TBranin :Many honors to you sir! Your piece stands alone. You might feel that I am overfawning on you. No, just read the drivel on most conservative sites. None of it has any degree of perspective or distance. You see everything in the context of all history. It is the only way to get at the truth whether pleasant or not. I would greatly like to read a dissertation on unclassical education. I put most of the blame for our poor public educational system square on the liberal philosophies which govern it. Now in our local college, the students grade their professors. Imagine that! Back at old Rutgers of the 1950s, there was a student bill of rights - one had the right to study or leave. Very simple but effective. Grade professors! The notion would have caused hilarity to break out. How things have changed for the worse! Dave :Traders and speculators won't feed you, but they will put up the money for you to buy the farm/oil patch/mineral lease, equipment, and working capital you'll need to get started producing and feeding the rest of us. Then other traders and speculators will come in and insure your operation against catastrophic loss, which will then be partitioned, with more traders and speculators taking the premium to invest (if they do a good job, your insurance will cost less) and even more traders and speculators taking up reinsurance to make sure your insurer doesn't go broke. In short, our more perfect form of capitalism does not exist without the free trade of risk, which exists inherently in the unpredictable world. God bless our traders and speculators! Dave Begley -Omaha :We want a full report from Planet New York City! Be sure to have dinner with Tom Wolfe; America's best fiction author. The two of you would get along great. TLM :I have to admit, Senator Obama continues to fascinate me. Not to worry, though. I won't vote for him or any other Democrat running against John McCain. Still you have to wonder about some facets of this unique individual, his life story, his personal beliefs and how he formed them. For example: Considering his long and wrong association with Reverend Wright, is he being intellectually dishonest with himself? I think so. Obama almost certainly considers himself an intellectual (with good reason) and I doubt he could easily convince himself to hold such irrational views. Black Liberation Theology? Same thing -- you can almost hear Obama asking himself, "How is it liberating to chain yourself to such contrived, inflexible beliefs"? The Wright association is explained in part, no doubt, by political expediency. But there must be something more to explain such intellectual dishonesty. Searching for a father figure? Doubt it -- he had done pretty well without a father. Any shrinks out there want to comment on that one? Searching for his Roots? Doubt it -- Barack Obama by birth trumps Kunte Kinte in your ancestry. Trying to understand where black Americans are coming from and thereby eventually fit in? He could do that without going to Reverend Wright's church and might have a more accurate view of black and white America. Obama does say Wright was a seminal figure in developing his religious faith. I take that on face value to be true. He also seems to have a more religiously inspired outlook on life than any other Democratic presidential hopeful since Jimmy Carter. (As an aside, I wonder what all the effete, I mean elite, Ivy League educated, wear-it-on-my-sleeve agnostic Democrats make of that. "Hmm. Columbia, Harvard Law Review and religious. I must be missing something here.") And yet I remain suspicious there's another reason for the unreasonable Wright connection. One that can overcome any lingering worries that you are not being true to yourself. I suspect Obama's wife strongly influenced him to go to that church and sit through all those years of Wright's demagoguery. I cannot believe that Barack Obama either believes those lies or somehow finds them useful in improving the black condition in America. Mrs. Obama, on the other hand, strikes me as a true believer in the Wright philosophy. And in their household she may wear the pants on that issue, as well as many others. Arthur Taylor :recession? maybe, maybe not, but this big economy has sore spots, and recent polls show most people are unhappy with the way the country is going. I like McCain and Obama both and i would vote for either one, but i think Obama wins because the democrats are energized and will get out the vote. I believe Obama will pull in more independents than McCain. the republicans have had 8 years to run the country, and the results have been pretty average, is a nice way to say mediocre. if ideology is ones cup of tea then i wonder what ever happened to conservatism? lets face it, there is no pure capitalism or reliance on markets. after all the shouting the thing i like best is when the government stays out of the way as much as possible except when it is going to do something that needs to be done. so i am not fearful of the pendulum swinging back to the liberal minded , because there are things that need to be done. i don't mind seeing someone make a nudge for protecting the environment, our water and lands and confronting global warming. i dont mind seeing actions taken with middle America and the little person in mind when setting the tone for the country, for policies on healthcare, and education. these issues need to be addressed, and the current course is not producing good results for many people in this country, so yes we do need a liberal push to get past the mantra about the markets fix everything. but we also need the call to serve the country as well, to tighten the belt. McCain is an honorable man, and i had wanted him to become president in 2000. but i think at this time, right now, we need someone else, and i think we need the leadership that Obama brings, his inspiration and greatness are of this moment i really think in the same way that i felt that Ronald Reagan was a great president and the perfect person for his time. I am a moderate and i know most of the people here are more conservative than i am. but i really enjoy the wittings of VDH, and reading the comments here. whomever wins the ellection i wlll hope for the best for that person and for us in this great country with it's wide open spaces and shores, and town, and cities and the freedom that we all cherish. TLM :Calling victor delta hotel (VDH). High priority target of opportunity in the open and exposed. Location: Sunday NYT OP/ED section. Identity: Frank Rich. Status: Vulnerable. Overwrought comparison of little battle in Basra with Tet Offensive. Request: Immediate counter-attack (rebuttal) by noted military historian. You seriously have to wonder whether some of the anti-war pundits out there haven't lost it completely. They're getting desperate, and with good reason. Frank Rich, for example, has been an ardent critic of the war in Iraq since the beginning, and granted some of his articles have been insightful. But it's been a bit like shooting fish in a barrel criticizing a war which was initially so ineptly managed. Things are a bit different now. Yet, a year almost after the turnaround on the ground in Iraq, Rich still seems firmly entrenched in the Obama camp position of we-lost, get-out-now. Funny thing is, I'm not even sure Obama is in the Obama camp any longer, based on what we hear from his national security advisors. (Could Obama be positioning himself for a change in tone on the war prior to General Petraeus testifying this week?). So what are the liberal punditocrats to do? Retreat from their positions? No, never retreat. They will probably make progressively more ridiculous and inaccurate comparisons between the war in Iraq and the one in Viet Nam, in the hopes history will repeat itself. Exhibit A is Rich's article in today's NY Times comparing the little battle in Basra last week to the Tet Offensive. Someone should shoot that lame duck analogy out of the sky. BRussell :Obama is a Chicago-racist-joke. He is the least capable of the three current contenders to handle the mess which is coming economically, poitically and militarily. Food in the US will probably DOUBLE in the next 12-24 months and oil in that time will likely hit $5 a gallon. Hell, we're already spending over $4 a gallon for diesel right now. Bend over America, here it comes, again. And its all because we went the "Free-trade" route instead of becoming energy and agriculturally independent of the 3rd world. Trudy B. Taylor :amr: hillary tries to lie like bill lies. somehow he slips by with it (more or less). she does not. i cringed the first time i heard the hyped up medical anecdote concerning the wretched young woman who didnt seek medical care for herself or her unborn child until the 8th month (a fact ms. hillary conveniently left out of her initial telling) , subsequent loss of child and then the woman's own demise (when one is pregnant and winging it without serial care, really really bad things can happen really really fast). there is simply no way a 3rd trimester woman would ever be "turned away" from an emergency room anywhere in the u.s. i worked in medicine and , believe me, we fought to keep moms in the er long enough to administer complete care and get them to agree to come in regularly to clinic. hillary's crowd shows a remarkable inability to vet incoming stories and hillary's own musings. i guess they want to believe their pipe dreams of non-socialist injustices running rampant through our grisly capitalistic culture. careless mistakes like this will arthur taylor: his campaign, too, contains a fatal flaw. we've seen the radar signature of it with the preacher wright episode. we've seen the tamped down yet panicky reaction used to attempt to contain it with the disappearance of preacher wright and the close handling of mouthy michelle. at his core obama doesnt know who he is. he lets others speak for him. this will never go away, and if there is one thing a working middle class can recognize, it is a directioless man. i hold to a faith that enough of us will sniff obama out for the false avatar that he is. tlm: war "pundits" should be very careful about bringing up the subject of the tet offensive. a generation is growing up now that will probably realize that we won the battle. it was walter cronkite who decided the cause was lost, and tv land trotted right along behind him, sadly followed by political hacks and a congress with the vapors who ultimately pulled funding for the war. sooner or later history will right itself concerning that issue. and maybe, just maybe, the populace will begin to get how dangerous a pundocracy can be. 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With oil so high I was hoping for an electric car. There doesn't seem to be one on the horizon.
Will Mrs. Clinton retire to the senate and stay with a pedigree like Kennedy or Rockefeller? And will she keep us guessing whether or not she'll run for president in 2012?
McCain was charming on Letterman.
If Obama wins, we didn't give McCain enough money.
Recession? I thank God my friends are working.
'literal othismos?'...ya got me...(k'plunk)
Apr 2, 2008 06:48 PM