Comments on: Playfully confronting the surprises http://crookedtimber.org/2007/10/07/playfully-confronting-the-surprises/ Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:56:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jeffrey Kramer http://crookedtimber.org/2007/10/07/playfully-confronting-the-surprises/comment-page-1/#comment-213114 Jeffrey Kramer Mon, 08 Oct 2007 10:20:44 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/10/07/playfully-confronting-the-surprises/#comment-213114 Like Bush, I have so deeply absorbed Oakeshottian wisdom about dogmatic rationalism. That's why I never make shopping lists: I refuse to circumscribe the flowing river of life with the dead sandbags of written rules. And my habit of stocking up on beer and pastry when I get to the supermarket is a reflection of my philosophical hostility towards gnostic-style asceticism. Like Bush, I have so deeply absorbed Oakeshottian wisdom about dogmatic rationalism. That’s why I never make shopping lists: I refuse to circumscribe the flowing river of life with the dead sandbags of written rules. And my habit of stocking up on beer and pastry when I get to the supermarket is a reflection of my philosophical hostility towards gnostic-style asceticism.

]]> By: aaron_m http://crookedtimber.org/2007/10/07/playfully-confronting-the-surprises/comment-page-1/#comment-213110 aaron_m Mon, 08 Oct 2007 07:58:37 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/10/07/playfully-confronting-the-surprises/#comment-213110 "Our government couldn’t even come up with a plan for postwar Iraq—thank goodness, too, because any ‘plan’ hatched by technocrats in Washington would have been unfit for Iraqi reality." If I were a technocrat in Washington serious about winning the hearts and minds of Iraqis my plan would have been to be extremely concerned with functioning water, electricity, policing, health services, roads, and to otherwise make sure that the basic shit needed to make a society livable was in place. I would propose this on the premise that when basic shit is working subsequent implementation of new political institutions have a better chance of succeeding. But I can see now that the 'basic shit' plan would have been inappropriate for Iraqis. “Our government couldn’t even come up with a plan for postwar Iraq—thank goodness, too, because any ‘plan’ hatched by technocrats in Washington would have been unfit for Iraqi reality.”

If I were a technocrat in Washington serious about winning the hearts and minds of Iraqis my plan would have been to be extremely concerned with functioning water, electricity, policing, health services, roads, and to otherwise make sure that the basic shit needed to make a society livable was in place. I would propose this on the premise that when basic shit is working subsequent implementation of new political institutions have a better chance of succeeding.

But I can see now that the ‘basic shit’ plan would have been inappropriate for Iraqis.

]]> By: JP Stormcrow http://crookedtimber.org/2007/10/07/playfully-confronting-the-surprises/comment-page-1/#comment-213102 JP Stormcrow Mon, 08 Oct 2007 01:25:00 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/10/07/playfully-confronting-the-surprises/#comment-213102 Shorter David Brooks: I am Oakeshottian I am a Burkean I know what I want but Don't know how to get it I'm gonna defend the conduct of war, cos I like Iraq anarchy! Shorter David Brooks:

I am Oakeshottian
I am a Burkean
I know what I want but
Don’t know how to get it
I’m gonna defend the conduct of war, cos
I like Iraq anarchy!

]]> By: P O'Neill http://crookedtimber.org/2007/10/07/playfully-confronting-the-surprises/comment-page-1/#comment-213088 P O'Neill Sun, 07 Oct 2007 19:44:09 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/10/07/playfully-confronting-the-surprises/#comment-213088 This stuff never gets old. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/22/books/review/Brooks.t.html" rel="nofollow">Other times</a> Brooks was telling us that America could never be Oakeshottian -- <em>I know only two self-confessed Oakeshottians in Washington — Sullivan and me. And yet Oakeshott’s modesty can never be the main strain in one’s thinking, though it should always be the warning voice in the back of your mind.</em> <em>Sullivan notes that Oakeshott “couldn’t care less about politics as such, who wins and loses, what is now vulgarly called ‘the battle of ideas.’ ” His thought was poetic, not programmatic.</em> <em>Well, if you want to sit in a cottage and bet on horses, fine. But if you actually want to govern, such thinking is of limited use. It doesn’t make sense to ask how an Oakeshottian would govern because an Oakeshottian could never get elected in a democracy and could never use the levers of power if somehow he did. Doubt is not a political platform. Hope is.</em> <em>Oakeshott was wise, but Oakeshottian conservatism can never prevail in America because the United States was not founded on the basis of custom, but by the assertion of a universal truth — that all men are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain rights. The United States is a creedal nation, and almost every significant movement in American history has been led by people calling upon us to live up to our creed. </em> All it took was a botched invasion of Iraq to change that. This stuff never gets old. Other times Brooks was telling us that America could never be Oakeshottian—

I know only two self-confessed Oakeshottians in Washington — Sullivan and me. And yet Oakeshott’s modesty can never be the main strain in one’s thinking, though it should always be the warning voice in the back of your mind.

Sullivan notes that Oakeshott “couldn’t care less about politics as such, who wins and loses, what is now vulgarly called ‘the battle of ideas.’ ” His thought was poetic, not programmatic.

Well, if you want to sit in a cottage and bet on horses, fine. But if you actually want to govern, such thinking is of limited use. It doesn’t make sense to ask how an Oakeshottian would govern because an Oakeshottian could never get elected in a democracy and could never use the levers of power if somehow he did. Doubt is not a political platform. Hope is.

Oakeshott was wise, but Oakeshottian conservatism can never prevail in America because the United States was not founded on the basis of custom, but by the assertion of a universal truth — that all men are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain rights. The United States is a creedal nation, and almost every significant movement in American history has been led by people calling upon us to live up to our creed.

All it took was a botched invasion of Iraq to change that.

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