ABSTRACT
It seems that human beings are always liable to be egotistical (see the beginning of chapter XI) and cannot be relied upon to support policies that conflict with their immediate interests. Moreover they seem unable to conduct public affairs even so as to further interests that are to be justified prudentially rather than morally. Barbara Tuchman, in her book The March of Folly, describes various examples of policies that were a result of whole series of mistakes in judgment, mistakes so bad that they can only be accounted for by assuming that judgment is corrupted by shortsighted selfishness. She says:
Folly’s appearance is independent of era or locality; it is timeless and universal, although the habits and beliefs of a particular time and place determine the form it takes. It is unrelated to type of regime: monarchy, oligarchy and democracy produce it equally. Nor is it peculiar to nation or class. The working class as represented by Communist governments functions no more rationally or effectively in power than the middle class, as has been notably demonstrated in recent history. Mao Tse-tung may be admired for many things, but the Great Leap Forward, with a steel plant in every backyard, and the Cultural Revolution were exercises in unwisdom that greatly damaged China’s progress and stability…. The record of the Russian proletariat in power can hardly be called enlightened…. If the majority of Russians are
materially better off than before, the cost in cruelty and tyranny has been no less and probably greater than under the czars.3
