Is there any doubt that one did not lead directly to the other, that our collective misery in Bush’s incapable but malevolent hands is only slightly more extreme than it was twenty years ago when we were in the same situation with Reagan? Those who defend Reagan but criticize Bush display a disregard of history that seems to arise from a blind nostalgia (which is to say, a pernicious optimism) for a past when we were younger and even more naive than we are now.

To quote Rousseau: “Sors de l’enfance, ami, réveille-toi!” (“Quit thy childhood, friend, and wake up!”)