As most of our readers know, the Disciple Nations Alliance was born at the intersection of two seemingly unrelated issues: the more “philosophical” concept of worldview and the very practical world of poverty. We also have argued that culture matters in the world of poverty and development. Because ideas have consequences, moral vision is important in shaping nations and in analyzing nations’ wealth and poverty.

Victor Davis Hanson, writer, classics professor and grape farmer, has made some anecdotal observations of culture as it currently impacts the economic turmoil in the European Union. With simple yet unassailable logic he contrasts the healthy economies of Switzerland and Germany with the debt-ridden “sunshine economies” of Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal.

Indeed, culture has always mattered and still matters in issues of economic or national health. Will the hardworking taxpaying Germans continue to underwrite the debt of the tax avoiding siesta loving Greeks?  Is it likely that the Greeks will change their lifestyles by changing their minds in order to pay off their debt and remain part of the Euro Zone?

– Darrow Miller

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