Don't mind burra and his trademark sardonicism, he's just trying to tell you that it's not a new thought. Some threads that I found like
this one and
this one shed light on the subject, but they're rather old and I don't think anyone would mind discussing it again here. Tom Shippey makes quite a case for it in his analysis of the LotR in
Author of the Century, especially the contrast between Rohan and Gondor.