The Price We Pay for Our Ignorance of Military History Is Dead Americans

The Price We Pay for Our Ignorance of Military History Is Dead Americans

Posted By Dave Swindle On August 13, 2013 @ 8:00 pm In Counterculture Conservatism,Culture,Culture Wars,History,Link Roundup,Military,War | 1 Comment

For season 2 of the 13 Weeks Radical Reading Regimen each weekday I juxtapose book excerpts with a selection of the previous day’s headlines and noteworthy excerpts. The goal is to make fresh connections between the events of the day and the bigger picture of humanity’s place in the universe. Each day also starts with highlighting the contributions of an important writer. 

Last week I was frustrated at the oversimplifying in the popular narrative of an alleged Republican “civil war” between the “interventionist,” “establishment” wing represented by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and the “non-interventionist,” “libertarian” wing represented by Kentucky Senator Rand Paul (son of the publisher of conspiracist and racist newsletters). This isn’t a boxing match, it’s a barroom brawl. Numerous foreign-policy voices with many perspectives fill the “right of center” ranks. A variety of philosophies and ideologies compete for influence.

And so I began naming the ones who had most shaped me, who had inspired me to join PJM two years ago, and whose vivid writing I still wake up eager to edit each morning. Michael Ledeen, Andrew C. McCarthy, Barry Rubin, Claudia Rosett, and David P. Goldman perpetually provide clear-eyed analysis illuminating world events. Through their books and columns we can begin to understand the analytic tools and life experiences that underlie the way they interpret the stories of the day. And we can then weigh the public policies they advocate.

My last key foreign-policy influence among PJ’s columnists is also going to be the first of a second list of PJM columnists I’m presenting this week. He is an important bridge between disciplines: for many years now Victor Davis Hanson’s writings and speeches have been vital influences on my understanding of both foreign policy and culture — two subjects which need to be considered in a more integrated faction. A culture that does not value learning the mistakes that led to the start of wars — and defeat in them — will be doomed to suffer, paying in the blood of the innocent and the heroic.

On Friday I presented David P. Goldman’s conception of Augustinian Realism, an alternative to the foreign-policy approaches of Christie and Paul. Rather than the big government of Christie or the wimpy government of Paul, Goldman advocates for a values-driven government. Augustinian Realism recognizes that the civil society predates a government, and advocates that America must make common cause with those who share her value of the individual as sacred. Goldman argues that societies succeed when they value and empower the individual to be free to create value. Societies that do not, that fail to draw out the creative potential of their people, are doomed to failure — and we cannot force them to succeed no matter how much “interventionism” we attempt. Culture becomes the determinant of the fate of peoples and nations. And what a culture values defines them.

In Victor Davis Hanson’s large body of work and ever-growing, prolific archives of articles we can see the cultural values that formed Western civilization piece by piece. He’s a military historian and classics professor who brings his erudite understanding of Western civilization to his writings of contemporary events. Through VDH one can see the twists of the U.S.’s war against terrorists in the context of military strategies since mankind fought with shields and spears.

It’s one step to learn about the evolution of Western cultural values, but it’s a whole other trek up Mount Olympus to get emotionally excited and passionate about them. What sparked my enthusiasm for VDH’s writing and ideas was seeing him speak at conferences and events. He’s an engaging lecturer who demonstrates the relevance of ancient philosophy and military history to not just politics but our own daily lives. Thus, I’m hoping that with the upcoming release of the new Freedom Academy course “The Odyssey of Western Civilization,” others can begin to see today through the lens of classical wisdom. More on this new project soon at PJ Lifestyle.
One of the concepts that VDH will discuss in the series is an ancient Greek debate that mirrors the Christie vs Paul fight today. Which is a better form of government, oligarchy or democracy? The same question could be restated: which is not as bad, a tyranny of an elite that can execute you (drones and limitless spying went up under Obama…) or a tyranny of a 51% majority who can execute you (democratically elected Sharia states that then sponsor terrorists to attack us)? Paraphrasing their 2016 competition, the former secretary of state, what difference, at this point, does it make?

There is an alternative: Republicanism, the rule of law that checks would-be tyrannies of both the majority and the minority through creating systems that balance powers. This system makes it so that the abstract individual is supreme by dispersing the necessary powers of government amongst different powers. In the upcoming Western civilization series, VDH discusses how the Romans managed to grow much larger than the Greeks for centuries through amalgamating various aspects of the ancient Greek city states, creating institutions of government that could check and balance each other – from multiple legislative bodies to multiple rulers.

The price of failing to balance and defuse power is very real. Wars happen and are then won or lost as a result of the political choices by a state’s leaders. And in our day and age, leaders are chosen according to the whims of cultural sensibilities. Thus to revive a foreign policy that values military strength, and sees the proper use of force as an effective deterrent – often the only option — against tyrannical states and actors, we have to nourish and revive the culture from the ground up.

In addition to the upcoming Freedom Academy course and VDH’s PJ Media blog Works and Days, the first two of his books that I recommend (and will be blogging more excerpts from in the coming months at PJ Lifestyle) are The Father of Us All: War and History Ancient and Modern and Who Killed Homer: The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom (co-written with John Heath). Check out an excerpt from each at the beginning and end of today’s round-up of links from last Friday and this weekend. And one last thing: as I start new VDH books I’ll notate them in my Freedom Academy Book Club profile; now’s a great time to join in the Beta test of this new program.