Most American conservatives, especially since Sept. 11th, exhibit signs of brain damage. And John Derbyshire diagnoses the problem: too much happy talk, too much optimism and not enough pessimism. There are limits about what man can do with himself and the natural world. Humans are not blank slates that can be remade to fit whatever utopian scheme can be dreamed up. Conservatives are supposed to know this and see things as they are. Liberals are there to take care of the happy talk and wishful thinking.

Now this is not an all purpose gloomfest. Derbyshire acknowledges all sorts of apocalyptic possibilities of the natural sort - resource depletion, climate change, and asteroid strike, but he doesn't talk about them. Rather he restricts himself to the social and political disasters that await America in the future. And he talks directly to conservatives. Wipe that smile off your face, he tells them. Get your mind around the fact that America does not and cannot exist outside the currents of history, that America has not been given a pass by God to do whatever it wants without horrible consequences.

And the particular delusions of optimism Derbyshire attacks? Diversity is not our strength, quite the opposite. It corrodes national identity. That presidents and legislators are not deserving of the respect, power, and money we give them. Harry Truman had to borrow money to write his memoirs. High culture has produced nothing of value after the 1950s. Pop culture has produced little of worth. A world of female empowerment is a world nudged closer to totalitarianism. Women are generally fanatical and unthoughtful about their politics. Education has become a cultish object of worship which assumes any child can become anything - if enough money is spent. Evolution is, of course, real, but it miraculously came to an end 60,000 years ago and humans never, never exhibit signs of inherited racial differences in mental aptitudes. Inside every foreigner is an American trying to get out - said transformation only needing billions of taxpayer dollars and the occasional occupation by American troops. Particular scorn is saved for conservatives who oppose immigration restrictions out of nostalgia, faulty notions of human nature, and bad historical analogies. Finally, the dismal science gets smacked around for claiming that the chaos of globalization and free trade will build a better world - a faith based assertion merely based on historical analogy.

All this is delivered in chapters of concise prose full of quantative and historical arguments. If, like me, you are already a fan of John Derbyshire's writing, you will recognize several sections. (And Derbyshire freely acknowledges the work of Steve Sailer in shaping this book too.) The only material that was new to me was from cognitive science in Chapter 7. It's some of the bleakest material here. After all, virtually every flavor of conservatism is based on the idea of humans having free will. But then, we probably have no choice but to believe that.

It's all stitched together with wit and conversational style. This is bracing despair. Congenitally optimistic conservatives will likely find something that darkens their world a bit. At least I hope so.

And if you find the whole package convincing and are tempted to use this book to convert liberals, just remember, as explained in the chapter on human nature, humans habitually deceive themselves. Indeed, it seems evolution rewards self-deceit. You probably won't get anywhere.

And the same chapter also notes that the depressed, the melancholy are the ones that most know the true lay of the land. It seems Socrates might have been wrong. It's the unexamined life that's worth living. ( )

A refreshing change from usual noise. And a timely plea to return to basics. ( )