scottlingamfelter

Tomorrow I turn 75. (No applause, please.)  But feel free to buy my books. (See below!)  I’ll autograph it on my birthday for you.  Meanwhile, I’m very fortunate to be at this point.  There were times, including prostate cancer 22 years ago, when I wondered if my time had run Read more

A dear friend recently asked me, “How will the war end in Iran?”  I’m not an oracle, and despite having spent a full career as a soldier, I, like many of you, consume what I read and hear from the news and draw conclusions about what will happen. I suppose the Read more

In the sixteen years I served in the House of Delegates of the Virginia General Assembly, I learned a lot about legislating.  Among those lessons was to never assume you have a mandate that you don’t actually possess.  The hubris that accompanies a partisan victory, putting the entire legislature and Read more

The liberation of Iran is underway.  But just a week into this conflict, we are already hearing the voices of capitulation.  The opponents expostulate as a reflexive response.  They see the US-Israeli (now also Gulf nations) campaign against Iran as unwarranted and unjust.  It’s not.  It’s actually leadership that is Read more

Occasionally, I dust the shelves of my memory and think about things from the past.  This week, I was thinking about leadership.  At 74—and closing in on another year—I don’t do much leading.  Gone are the days of military glory and political noteworthiness.  Neither was a prominent feature of my Read more

If my father were alive today, he would be just shy of 111 years old.  He passed away 56 years ago when I was a 19-year-old first-year cadet—a Rat—at the Virginia Military Institute.  His death left an enormous hole in my life when I was hardly a man.  I have Read more

In Greek mythology, many themes still apply today.  Consider the quest to clean the Augean Stables.  The task was one among the “twelve labors” assigned to the Greek hero Heracles to accomplish.  The Augean Stables belonged to Augeas, the king of Elis, who kept 6,000 head of cattle there.  After Read more

In 2002, I was fortunate to meet Balint Vázsonyi.  Born in Hungary, Vázsonyi immigrated to the United States legally as a boy who could not speak English.  In his early years in America, he would study music.  He would become a remarkable pianist, making performance history by playing a chronological Read more

It’s hard to avoid the problems that beset life.  Most people I know try to focus on positive things. That eases the mind and steers one away from contemplating the troubles.  Yet if we are to resolve the problems we and our nation face, we must address them forthrightly.  If Read more

It’s as predictable as dawn and dusk and the rising and falling of tides.  Newly elected executives and legislatures think that they have a mandate to do as they please.  This is particularly evident when a political party wins a majority sufficient to control both the executive and legislative branches, Read more