The March of Folly

folly:  the lack of good sense; foolishness.

The March of Folly is a wonderful book by Barbara Tuchman written about 30 years ago.  I have had occasion to come into contact with it again and decided to read it--again.  Tuchman is a masterful historian, not only telling tales that entertain, but also providing analogies and lessons.  She won, if I recall, several Pulitzers somewhere along the way.  Her breadth of knowledge and skill are seen in the books she wrote, from the Fourteenth Century to the First World War and more.

I think Tuchman took "folly" to an even stronger indictment, more dangerous and destructive than the mere definition.

The March of Folly should be required reading for all political office seekers. Can we assign the book to candidates and give them a test?  Of course, the likelihood, as Tuchman repeatedly makes clear, is that no office holders will learn the lessons of the past.  She wrote, "A phenomenon noticeable (and that's an understatement, surely) throughout history regardless of place or period is the pursuit by governments of policies contrary to their own interests.  Mankind, it seems, makes a poorer performance of government than of almost any other human activity."  She continued, "...wisdom...is less operative and more frustrated than it should be.  Why do holders of high office so often act contrary to the way reason points and enlightened self-interest suggests?  Why does intelligent mental process seem so often not to function?"

No doubt the response to this by many, if not all, politicians, is "No, no, no.  That was them [sic].  We are we."  Those of today are too arrogant to concede the point.

"While all other sciences have advanced," John Adams once admitted, government is at a stand, little better practiced now than three or four thousand years ago."  And, I would suggest, two hundred plus years after Adams' comment, government is even worse.

"Wooden-headedness" Tuchman called it.  Seeing conditions and then treating them with established biases, "the disease of divine mission," leads to the rejection, even ignorance, of any solutions other than those preconceived by the accepted doctrine.  Of a Spanish ruler, she wrote, "No experience of the failure of his policy could shake his belief in its essential goodness."  Isn't that the definition Einstein  purportedly provided (He later said, "I probably didn't say that.") for insanity, "Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results?"  Of course, arrogant elitists wouldn't see it this way, would they?

But it's easy to dismiss Tuchman, as easy as dismissing John Adams and the rest of the Founding Fathers.  After all, he was and they were merely wealthy old white men.  Today, we denigrate them and their crowning achievement, the creation the the United States. For instance, just a few weeks ago, a NY Times op-ed lambasted the Electoral College, not as a mechanism to limit government power or tyranny by a majority, but as a defense to perpetuate slavery.  With such ignorance of history, it's easy to make such a ridiculous claim.  With such ignorance of history, it's easy to nod one's head in agreement.  Who would listen to Arthur Schlesinger, Sr., who called the Founders "the most remarkable generation of public men in the history of the United States or perhaps any other nation?"

Can we not see the "folly" being practiced in Europe as we read this?  Can we not see a similar "folly" followed in the US?  Tuchman noted, "Power...frequently causes failure to think."

As Tuchman conclusively proves, "folly" leads to downfall, decline, and destruction.  I suppose it's understandable, if not acceptable, that our elected officials and bureaucrats, that is, our leaders, refuse to see this.  Their arrogance and elitism blinds them to their "folly."  But what is it that leads the rest of us to refuse to see this?  After all, those foolish policies weigh heavily on the rest of us.  Are we really sedated by "bread and circuses?"  There I go again, that history stuff.