"Over the past few years I’ve watched Sullivan’s pessimism about Iraq lead to a broader re-examination of politics and ideas. As he’s made this journey, I’ve come to regard him as a traveling companion. He’s been more honest and open-minded than just about anybody else on the right. He is certainly correct that conservatives have to rediscover epistemological modesty. Conservatives need to relearn the lessons of Burke and Hayek — that the world is complex, and efforts to transform it will have unintended consequences, most of them bad."
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/22/books/review/Brooks.t.html?_r=1&ref=books&oref=slogin>
I love Brooks' implied conclusion that because the US fucked up royally in waging an imperialistic war on Iraq, *any* effort to transform the world -- say, through peaceful promulgation of socialism -- is pointless because of unintended consequences, most of them bad. Ah, the complexity of it all!
Carl
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