Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets

World-Changers Gone Wrong

What do Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Osama bin Laden, George W. Bush and Alexander the Great have in common? Not much, at first blush. But on closer inspection, they do share something. All are first-rate world improvers. They belong to a class of “do-gooders gone bad” who believe they know what’s best for everyone else, and that they can impose their will on the rest of the world – whether the rest of the world likes it or not.

The atrocities of Hitler, Mussolini and bin Laden are well-documented. George W.’s do-gooder tendencies were exposed by his foolhardy decisions to invade Afghanistan and Iraq in an attempt to turn ancient civilizations into Middle Eastern versions of the United States. Bush followed in the footsteps of Alexander the Great, another world improver who conquered the Middle East only to find he couldn’t permanently bend the world to his will.

George W. Bush is not the only one who’s narcissistic enough to believe that he can miraculously morph Mesopotamia into a democracy. Tony Blair is his accomplice, as are the American people who suddenly have made it their mission to fix the rest of the world. No longer do...