Proceedings: How important is a strong navy?
Hanson: Historically, a strong navy has always been critical if any power wanted to exercise influence beyond its own borders. You must have a navy in times of war, but you also must have one as a means of deterrence during peace.
Throughout history, powers that did not have a strong navy, even though they were impressive on land, usually failed in all-out war. For example, Sparta wins the Peloponnesian War only when it builds a navy through Persian subsidies. Rome wins the Punic War only when it builds a navy. Germany loses both world wars, in part because it doesn't have a navy that can challenge the Allies. Japan is a formidable power beyond its population and resources because of its navy. And when that is gone, it fails. The Soviet Union cannot win the Cold War because it never can really challenge the United States at the sea.
Most university progressives don't live with the very people they champion in the abstract. This is so much the case that I almost think it becomes a psychological mechanism for a lot of academic liberals. Talking about race, class, and gender in the abstract from the university lounge seems to give them psychic reassurance that their suburban home, their European vacation, the prep school for their kids, and the segregated life they live is justifiable. I would suggest to them that their discussions of these issues pale in comparison to living next to somebody from a different background, or teaching somebody who's poor.
Proceedings: How are the students different between the U.S. Naval Academy and California State University Fresno?
Hanson: I just love the students here at the Naval Academy. If I have a class of 30 at Cal State Fresno, I'll have 5 really good students. But if I have a class of 30 here, I'll have 25 top students. So there's more uniformity. No student here is better than my best students at Fresno, it's just that there are so many more of them here. And there is less variation.
Teaching here almost reminds me of going into a time warp. The students I have in California come with bare midriffs, dyed hair, children, animals, pets. I have students 70 years old, and I have students 16 from high school. Here they're relatively the same age, they all more or less dress alike, and they all talk alike—Yes, Sir. No, Sir. It's been a nice change of pace. In 20 years of teaching, I've never had everyone come to class. Here, nobody misses class. They are all on time, and they all stay. In California, 20% of the people don't come to class. Of those who come, 20% leave early. And another 20% come late. So that's what is different. I'm teaching just 40% of my students.
But the Cal State system is therapeutic. It's not designed for education; it's designed to take people from different classes and races and ethnic backgrounds, put them on a university campus, make them feel good, pour a bunch of money into the process, and then let them graduate somehow with the idea that we've eased social tension. And it works. But it's not education.
Proceedings: What about the faculties?
Hanson: This was the biggest surprise. Some of my friends told me this year would be very different. "You'll see people who have pretty mainstream views," they told me, meaning mildly conservative. In fact, I found the faculty here at least as liberal, or more liberal, than my California faculty. I've had people here say things that were more critical of the military than I ever heard in California.
Proceedings: In light of the 11 September attacks and anthrax and threats of weapons of mass destruction, what scares you most?
Hanson: I suppose it would be two or three vaccinated terrorists with 300 or 400 pounds of anthrax, driving around Washington, D.C., throwing baggies of it out the door. It's a type of biological weapon I think we underestimate. We know Saddam Hussein literally has tons of it in machine-grade, dried, aerosol form. And he has terrorists who want to use it. The only thing saving us now is that, so far, no one has quite figured out the logistics of it all. But I'm very scared about that.
The problem is not weapons of mass destruction but who has control of them. England and Russia, right now, have anthrax. I'm not worried about them. It's him. We're going to leave it as a legacy to our children if we don't solve the problem. We've got to remove the man who can make and abuse weapons of mass destruction, not just the weapons, per se.