Brooks leads off with some unpopular sentiments, criticizing Federal policies during the Great Depression and even the war effort in World War II. The whole piece is about realism and realistic attitudes toward government and other "human institutions," so Brooks necessarily comes down pretty objectively on some of the Great American Projects. Brooks is challenging the American people to return to a realistic attitude toward their public institutions, instead of demanding unreasonable perfection. Since his subjects, both private citizens and politicians, are reacting to failures in US security measures in ways he deems "contemptuous and hysterical," the gist of Brooks' assessment seems objective and level-headed by default. ... More »

Enjoyable, well-written opinion piece about the public's relationship to government in regards to security, a topic that would benefit greatly from a healthy dose of realism. My thanks to Brooks for speaking his mind. He points out that in his view we all share responsibility for our personal safety and government would be well-advised to show a more realistic public response to events, rather than adjusting their statements to current sentiment.

Brooks might have added the strategy of stopping the provocation for the attacks as part of an adult approach to stopping the attacks.