scottlingamfelter

I missed a few lessons early in life. But I caught up later, thanks in part to several wise mentors who showed up to fill in the gaps in my knowledge with practical experience. It should be no surprise to anyone that much that anyone gathers in the wisdom business is tied Read more

In 2005, I had my first hip surgery. If you’ve ever had true hip pain, you know how debilitating it is. The week prior to my surgery, the spurs and rough surfaces on my hip joint were awful. Ouch. So, at 54 years old, I decided it was time for a steel hip with Read more

I’m not an economist. That’s good because I didn’t accumulate impressive grades when I took college economics. In fact, after that experience, I resolved being an economist wasn’t my vocation. Being a soldier was preferable to supply and demand curves and economy theory. Besides, market forces—if trusted—work well without the interference of economic and Read more

This week Shelley and I departed for the Midwest to visit children and grandchildren and attend an annual reunion with the 1st Infantry Division officers I served with in war and peace. I write about many of them in Desert Redleg: Artillery Warfare in the First Gulf War. I have known many very Read more

That we have a crisis in fatherhood in American is as plain as the next crime committed by a young male, of any race, in any place, and without regard to the appalling nature of the crime. In almost every case I know of, when a young male subject perpetrates a Read more

In the fall of 1968, I was considering where to go to college the following September. I was ambivalent and not a strong student. To be sure dyslexia and lousy study habits did nothing to improve my grades. I thought about different colleges. I would pore over the college guides in our school library Read more

Some years ago, when preparing for battalion command, I joined others attending a pre-command course to brush up on Army operations, planning, training, and personnel matters. There is much on the plate of a battalion commander. For the most part, those selected for command are strong leaders with a solid record of Read more

In 1992, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) penned an article in The American Spectator titled “Defining Deviancy Down: How We’ve Become Accustomed to Alarming Levels of Crime and Destructive Behavior”. In it, Moynihan addressed the permissive decline of society in the 1990s. If he was alive today, he would wonder if the country had fallen Read more

It’s so easy to complain about the government these days. Particularly the Federal government that has grown in power and reach for the last 100 years. Our Founding Fathers would be horrified by the aggregation of power from the states to the federal authorities. While they saw a need for a federal system Read more

It’s easy to grow weary of politics, despite the fact that for 16 years as an elected member of the Virginia General Assembly I was clutched by its talons. It wasn’t as if I was unwilling prey. But it was a tight grip that held me. In 2017, the grasp was loosened, and Read more