Goodness, armed with power, is corrupted; and pure love without power is destroyed.
One notes that although the reference is to the moral ambiguity of action it can also be used as an apologia for any bad action with good intention, which describes the liberal defense against the consequences of its own actions.
Niebuhr came to realize a few other things watching the Nazis murder 6 million people with their "noble" intentions, one of which is:
There are historic situations in which refusal to defend the inheritance of a civilization, however imperfect, against tyranny and aggression may result in consequences even worse than war.
I'd be happy to hear Brooks's comments on that one with regard to the imperfect but very successful defense of civilization in Iraq. I'm not holding my breath.
Excellent points!
Dems Never have to take responsibility for any failure, because their motives and intentions were “good.”
They do recognize that Republicans have to take responsibility for any real or imputed transgressions for two reasons:
1) Conservatives have moral values, so dems are free to point out failings
2) Conservatives are inherently mean, selfish, arrogant, condescending, etc, and so their motives can Never be good.