my broken record keeps on spinning

I mean, sometimes, it's like the world wants to show us as carefully as it can that we lack the wisdom and ability to remake it in our image.

I've said this again and again: even if you don't hold my moral conviction that democratic states have no business dictating the futures of foreign countries, you should oppose interventions such as that in Libya because we lack the knowledge necessary to achieve our stated ends. I don't know anything about the Obeidi tribesmen of Libya, or the larger context of tribal, sectarian, and political divisions within that country. Neither, I feel confident in asserting, do the vast majority of the American people. Events of the last decade further make me skeptical about the knowledge of most self-styled experts in our media. But even if I was confident that there was an informed, nonpartisan expert base that could provide credible and current information to our leadership and our citizenry, I would be extremely skeptical about the ability of our policy apparatus to make sound choices about the future of a sovereign people. Particularly one that is so different from ours in language, culture, religion, and history.

I don't know. If you've read me for awhile you've read this all before. The beat just keeps going on: we fall in love with our righteousness, power, and knowledge, and hold our belief in them so dearly that we refuse to alter that belief in the face of events and evidence.

It will get worse in Libya.