When I see epic, self-inflicted disasters crowned by poor planning, slovenly, often outdated thinking, remarkable carelessness, and predictions of victory that are little more than slogans, the qualities of leadership that led to World War I — and the way that it was fought — have a way of coming to mind. They did so, for example, during the pandemic, and they do so when contemplating the pointless “race” to net zero.
And so, when thinking about the crisis dramatically deepened by “liberation” day, I recalled “The General,” a poem from 1917 by Siegfried Sassoon, a ...
