The Tree That Spawned Those Bad Apples

There is a really good post by publius over at Obsidian Wings called "The Structural Foundations of Neoconservatism" in which he discusses a book by one James Mann called Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush's War Cabinet. You should read the whole thing, but I am compelled to post this lengthy excerpt because it speaks so well to what I have been saying about "Vanquishing the Beast" (emphasis mine):

The larger point for today’s purposes is that the worldview underlying neoconservatism -- excessive certainty of good and evil -- is shared by too many Americans even today. Indeed, we saw it in full display in the run-up to, and aftermath of, Iraq. We had to go to war because Saddam was evil. The war was good because we are good and you’re blaspheming the troops. The names had changed, but the song otherwise remained the same.

Looking ahead, real progress requires us to shed the kindergarten view of both ourselves and our adversaries. What seems at first glance to be steely-spined moral clarity is actually a failure to engage with the grey complexities of the real world. We are good, but not perfect. Those who oppose America are not always good, but neither are they fantasy embodiments of pure evil (with certain exceptions). That’s not to say we can’t be proud of America -- there is much to be proud of. It’s just that overly simplistic abstract views are leading to horrible practical consequences.

If we don’t change this underlying view, nothing will change even if the Democrats win the White House. People like Wolfowitz may come and go, but the worldview that created him will linger on. For that reason, we’ll keep repeating history until that worldview -- that excessive certainty -- is confronted.

And vanquished! See also Maha's excellent series The Wisdom of Doubt regarding that "excessive certainty."

In particular, I fear the political aftermath of our eventual withdrawal from Iraq. Like Vietnam, it will trigger poisonous resentment among nationalists. The temptation will be to hide from -- rather than confront -- the cognitive dissonance by doubling down on a fantasy version of America. We may well see the rise of a new nationalism movement fueled by Iraq resentment, and a particularly nasty one at that.

This is all a long way of saying that it’s not enough for the public to oppose the Iraq War. The real goal is to change the mindset that led to the Iraq War. There are hundreds of aspiring young Wolfowitzes toiling away in the Bush executive branch as we speak, gaining valuable resume lines. The only way to make sure they don’t ascend to power is to make their preferred policies politically unviable, regardless of what party controls the government.

Nowhere is this destructive and childlike worldview on better display than over at Conservative Dialysis (I linked to be polite, but really, you don't need to go there! Trust me!) where our friend Mike has been gamely attempting to engage a sadly naive and strident young conservative in something like a dialogue. I've put my toe in those waters too, but I don't have Mike's patience - his (the blogger, not Mike!)ignorance is overwhelming. But Mike is absolutely right in his efforts; if change is going to come, it will most likely be facilitated in very small increments through discussion and gentle persuasion. That and, of course, a sweeping win for Democrats in November!

And, by the way, Maha also has a good post up today about Penn and Clinton.