We're talking about big bucks, hundreds of thousands of dollars cadged and cajoled, forked over, sometimes even fobbed on the politicians from people you've never heard about.
Managers who no longer have anyone to manage are fobbed off with inflated titles, much as superannuated politicians are made Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster or Lord President of the Council.
He makes this case by offering pen-portraits of four charismatic war leaders who were not career soldiers themselves but nonetheless refused to be blinded by military science or fobbed off by senior officers who insisted that they knew best.