Heads In the Sand

Matthew Yglesias

When mainstream Democratic politicians talk about Iraq, why do they sound more like Republicans than like the actual Democratic citizens they claim to represent? Are they simply ducking for cover from the with-us-or-against-us Republican onslaught? Are Democrats actually buying into the right wing's dark, pessimistic vision of endless conflict combined with blinkered optimism about the boundless utility of military force? Has the liberal tradition failed to provide useful principles on which to build and conduct foreign policy?

In Heads in the Sand, fast-rising political observer and commentator Matthew Yglesias reveals the wrong-headed foreign policy stance of conservatives, neocons, and the Republican Party for what it is—aggressive nationalism, or, to be impolite, a new version of old-fashioned imperialism. He then examines how Democrats and progressives have responded to the conservative agenda, from mistakenly labeling it isolationism to repeated calls for big, bold, new ideas and the failure to actually produce any.

Writing with wit, passion, and keen insight, Yglesias reminds us of the rich tradition of liberal internationalism that, developed by Democrats, was used with great success by both Democratic and Republican administrations for more than fifty years. It was, in fact, the foreign policy strategy that revived Europe after World War II, established the United Nations, and won the Cold War.

Based on the principle of promoting global order through international law and stable institutions, liberal internationalism is far from perfect and not nearly sexy enough to appeal to chest-thumping hawks. But, as Yglesias demonstrates, exercised with patience, flexibility, and restraint by nine American presidents, it has produced more peace, prosperity, and international harmony than any other approach. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, it's the worst form of foreign policy, except for all the others.

The forces opposed to liberal internationalism, however, are large and growing. And, Yglesias reveals, they're not all on the far right. He presents a startling revelation of how many moderates, liberals, and even far-left progressives seem more than happy to use America's military might to accomplish their objectives.

While Democrats have come unmoored from their foreign-policy principles for multiple and complex reasons, Matthew Yglesias makes it clear that the path to redemption is open, if not always pothole-free. Americans no longer support reckless Republican policies and the time is ripe—not for a new direction, but for the return of a tried-and-true direction. With Heads in the Sand, he provides a starting point for politicians, policymakers, pundits, and citizens alike to return America to its role as leader of a peace-loving and cooperative international community.

Yglesias (an associate editor of the Atlantic Monthly) decries the aggressive nationalism of George W. Bush's foreign policy together with the perceived inability of the Democratic Party to counter it. He attributes this Democratic failure to short-term thinking and a shallow concept of political expediency and urges the party to reclaim liberal internationalism as a coherent alternative that has served both the country and the Democratic Party well from when it was first articulated by Woodrow Wilson through to the Bill Clinton presidency. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Praise for Heads In the Sand

"A very serious, thoughtful argument that has never been made in such detail or with such care."

—Ezra Klein, staff writer at The American Prospect

"Matt Yglesias is one of the smartest voices in the blogosphere. He knows a lot about politics, a lot about foreign policy, and, crucially, is unusually shrewd in understanding how they interact. Here's hoping that his new book will introduce him to an even wider audience. Once you discover him, you'll be hooked."

—E. J. Dionne, author of Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics After the Religious Right and Why Americans Hate Politics

"Matthew Yglesias is one of a handful of bloggers that I make a point of reading every day. Heads in the Sandis a smart, vital book that urges Democrats to stop evading the foreign-policy debate and to embrace the old principles of international liberalism—to be right and also to win."

—Fred Kaplan, author of Daydream Believers: How a Few Grand Ideas Wrecked American Power

"Reading foreign policy tomes is seldom included among life's pleasures, but Yglesias has concocted a startling exception. Heads in the Sand is not just a razor-sharp analysis cum narrative of the politics of national security in general and the Iraq war in particular, it's also an enthralling and often very funny piece of writing. Though he administers strong antidotes to the haplessness of his fellow Democrats and liberals, there's more than a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down."

—Hendrik Hertzberg, Senior Editor, The New Yorker, and author of Politics: Observations and Arguments

A full-scale attack on the Democratic foreign policy elite, by one of the left's most popular opinion writers

When mainstream Democratic politicians talk about Iraq, they sound more like Republicans than like the actual Democratic citizens they claim to represent. Matthew Yglesias has risen to prominence as a political commentator by being the wisest and wittiest writer to articulate his anger over this ridiculous state of affairs. He's been profiled as an up-and-comer in both New York and GQ magazines, and the Wall Street Journal recently called him "a ringleader-of-sorts for the D.C. blogging community."

With his famously sharp mind (and tongue), Yglesias refutes the two most important misconceptions about recent American foreign policy. The first is that Bush is an idealist. As Yglesias makes clear, Bush is a nationalist plain and simple, as a my-way-or-the-highway agenda takes precedence over any other supposed guiding ideology. The second is that the Democrats don't have a useful foreign policy tradition when they do. Liberal internationalism may not be exciting or perfect, but promoting global order through international law and stable institutions has brought about a lot more peace and prosperity than imperialism, isolationism, communism, or any other way of approaching the world.

So what have the Democrats been espousing instead of liberal internationalism? Not much, according to Yglesias. It's common to read articles by liberals calling for big, bold new ideas, but they don't have any, and don't have any explanations for why the old ones won't work. Democrats have come unmoored from their principles on foreign policy out of political opportunism, but this path has failed to give them a decisive political advantage on security issues, despite the massive failure of Bush-style nationalism.

As Heads in the Sand makes clear, Americans can no longer support reckless policies from the Republicans, and should loudly shout down any Democrat who's more interested in what seems politically safe than what makes the world safer.

Matthew Yglesias (Washington, DC) is an Associate Editor of the Atlantic Monthly, which also hosts his popular blog. His writing has also appeared in the American Prospect, Slate, the New Republic, and the New York Times.

Matthew Yglesias is an Associate Editor of the Atlantic Monthly, which also hosts his popular blog. His writing has also appeared in the American Prospect, Slate, the New Republic, and the New York Times. He's been profiled as an up-and-comer in both New York and GQ magazines, and the Wall Street Journal recently called him "a ringleader-of-sorts for the D.C. blogging community."

Acknowledgments.

Chapter One: The Real Liberal Tradition.

Chapter Two: The Nationalist Alternative.

Chapter Three: A Tale of Two Wings.

Chapter Four: See No Evil.

Chapter Five: Opportunism Knocks.

Chapter Six: Evasive Action.

Chapter Seven: The Democracy Fraud.

Chapter Eight: After Victory.

Chapter Nine: In With The Old.

Notes.

Index.