I came across this text courtesy of Jeff at This Public Address.
Its a description of what do you get when you mix a yeoman US farmer with a classicist and social conservatism. It is a warlike conservatism that maintains that the USA needs a strong dose of ancient Greece's warrior culture. The text in the Boston Globe says that Victor Davis:
"Hanson wields a few simple ideas with blunt force. Western culture, in his view, emanates from ancient Greece and prizes consensual government, private markets, self-criticism, and rational inquiry. Where such values are found, political, economic, and military preeminence follow. The non-Western world lags behind the West because it does not share in the Greek cultural legacy, having opted instead for despotism, theocracy, illiberal markets, and the plain old laziness that has men whiling away afternoons playing backgammon in the cafes of the Middle East."
Apparently White House hawks are listening. It makes sense to them. US supremacy has come from a uniquely effective military culture thanks to inherited Greek values.
Read Hanson and you'll know how your local neo-con ticks.
Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at June 3, 2003 12:03 AM | TrackBack