The other day the Wall Street Journal ran a book review about a new history of the Marshall Plan. Apparently, of the minority of Americans who were even aware of the Marshall plan at the time, a small majority was opposed to it. In retrospect of course, it was a great idea. The reviewer compared George Marshall then to George W. Bush today. Both are sticking to unpopular policies, convinced they are right. This steadfastness is said to represent courage. We hear a lot of this today from loyal Bushies.
It’s an idiot’s argument. That one unpopular policy turned out to be right does not mean all unpopular policies are right. Nor is there any correlation between unpopularity and correctness. The correlation, I suspect, is the reverse. And in a democracy, unpopularity is a problem in itself, albeit a surmountable one in a democratic republic such as ours.
The courage argument is more insidious. The Iraq war is not something Bush started despite opposition. Just the opposite, at the start, the policy was wildly popular. It was still favored enough in 2004 that Bush was reelected on the strength of his war—and the so-called war on terror more globally. It has relentlessly shed support ever since.
This is the Marshall Plan in reverse and in more ways than one. Marshall’s idea was poorly understood and disliked at the start. But as it succeeded, it gained support, including in retrospect. Bush’s idea has been an utter failure and it has, therefore, lost favor. There’s a word for that, but “courage” ain’t it.
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