I am not exactly what one would call a deep thinker, but I regularly read some folks who are. Two of which are Jerry Pournelle and Victor Davis Hanson. Dr. Pournelle is not fond of the neocons and I gather that he considers Professor Hanson to be a neocon. He provided a link to this article that praises Hanson for The Other Greeks: the Family Farm and the Agrarian Roots of Western Civilization, but rips him a new one for The Soul of Battle and An Autumn of War.

For the record, I've never heard of the The Occidental Quarterly before, so I have no idea idea whether they are a bunch of moonbats or not.

Having read the article, I find I disagree with some of the authors comparisons and opinions, but I admit I did wonder the first time I picked up The Soul of Battle what connection Billy Sherman, George Patton and Epaminondas had it common.

As a Southerner, I do not look at Sherman as a "liberator". The article in question addresses that subject as well.

Ok, I'll also admit that I'd never heard of Epaminondas before I read the book. I had probably read about Thebes vs. Sparta in the distant past, but it didn't stick. Which brings me to an observation Dr. Pournelle made earlier this week...

But Cincinnatus is no longer in our schools (or even in our spell checkers), and no one has heard of him, or would think him anything but a fool to go back to his plow after saving the Republic. Politicians want power, and the more the better.

I think that says volumes about our education and values.

More to say about all of this, but work calls....