Today I was reading Sapiens, a gift from my grandson, and listening to an NPR interview with a longtime Pentagon journalist discussing the state of our military under Hegseth. Suddenly, the two narratives converged, offering an illuminating perspective on the disaster unfolding in our government.
In the chapter “An Animal of No Significance,” Yuval Noah Harari describes the evolutionary development of Homo Sapiens and the extraordinary energy demands of our oversized brains. At rest, the human brain consumes approximately 25% of the body’s energy, compared with just 8% for other apes. This evolutionary advantage came at a considerable cost. Our ancestors had to spend more time foraging for food to sustain their energy-hungry brains, while their muscles became relatively weaker as the body diverted precious energy to support the brain.
While walking upright provided a better view of the savannah, the diminished muscle power made survival among larger, stronger predators considerably more precarious. As Harari illustrates, “a chimpanzee might never win an argument with a Homo sapiens, but it could tear one apart like a rag doll”.
The lesson becomes increasingly clear as the book progresses: Human survival depended not on brute strength but on the ability to think, adapt, cooperate, and innovate. Our ancestors learned to manufacture tools and weapons, build social relationships, and develop coordinated strategies to overcome animals far larger and more powerful than themselves. Intelligence, cooperation, and adaptability, not raw physical force, ultimately determined our evolutionary success.
The NPR interview exposes the troubling direction of our military under Hegseth.
Hegseth appears determined to reverse the very evolutionary advantages that enabled our species to survive. Like Trump, he embraces a primitive philosophy of dominance, intimidation, and brute force. His obsession with the warrior mentality and displays of testosterone seems to have displaced an appreciation for the intellectual, technological, and strategic capabilities essential to modern warfare.
Experienced military leadership and institutional knowledge are being sacrificed in the pursuit of an ideological vision of military strength. Hegseth’s emphasis on physical appearance, masculine toughness, and traditional notions of the warrior diminishes the importance of women, minorities, and others whose talents do not conform to his narrow conception of what a soldier should be. In his world, the size of one’s biceps seems to matter more than the capacity of one’s brain.
But history, including the wars in Ukraine and Iran, offers a very different lesson. Overwhelming military power does not necessarily produce political success. Brute force cannot reliably extinguish a people’s determination to survive, nor can superior weaponry substitute for sound strategy, technological innovation, effective leadership, and an understanding of human behavior.
Defense in the 21st century will not be by those who most closely resemble our muscular ancestors. It will be achieved by people capable of mastering technology, anticipating threats, adapting to changing circumstances, and working together toward a common purpose. Skin color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and physical appearance are irrelevant to those essential qualities. It requires leaders who value facts over fantasy, competence over appearance, and strategic thinking over theatrical displays of toughness. Above all, it requires leaders who understand that real strength comes from the collective intelligence and commitment of the people they lead, not from intimidation, bluster, or self-aggrandizement. Trump and Hegseth seem determined to substitute the mentality of the primitive warrior for the intellectual achievements of modern civilization. Their approach is not a demonstration of strength. It is a rejection of the very qualities that made human progress possible.
And the problem extends well beyond these two men. Neither could pursue this destructive course without the political support of those who have abandoned their constitutional responsibilities in favor of personal survival. Congress, has become an enabling institution, populated by politicians more frightened of Trump’s wrath than concerned about America’s future.
If we are to reverse this trajectory, we must remove the political support that sustains it.
We need a Congress populated by representatives who are not afraid of Trump, who place their oath to the Constitution above their political careers, and who understand that their obligation is to the American people, not to one man. The fundamental question is simple: If Trump were forced to choose between the welfare of the American people and the personal interests of himself and his family, which would he choose? American voters now face their own choice: protect our families, our constitutional democracy, and the future of our country, or continue empowering those who place their own survival above the nation’s! Evolution taught us that intelligence, cooperation, and adaptation are the keys to survival. History has repeatedly demonstrated the consequences when societies surrender those advantages to the cult of the strongman.
It’s time to stop dancing with the Neanderthals. Vote for candidates who will stand up to Trump, defend the Constitution, and put America first, not themselves.
VOTE!!!
RESIST!!! & EDUCATE!!!
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