Absolutely. Hanson has a point when he says that
But ''The Other Greeks'' (1995) is probably Hanson's signature work. In it, he argues that the values of classical civilization originated not among the urban elites of fifth-century Athens but among the communities of middling farmer-soldiers who dominated Greece's pre-classical era. These small land-owners were ''keen-eyed,'' egalitarian, hard-working, and largely self-governing. They were also the same hoplites who fought to defend their own land and hard-earned harvests.
But what is overlooked by those hung up on the "Democarcy is a Greek word" thing, is that the pre-classical Greek ideal was pretty much destroyed by Pericles when he established the Peoples Democratic Republic of Athens.
While those barbarians in the north: Peninsula, Littorial, and Island Northwest Europeans (PLINEs for short), came up with the idea independenty and made it last (more or less).
Now THERE is the ideal succinct statement of the concept I am trying to get across---thank you!
Great tag line--anyone who references Heinlein has got to be OK.