It is disheartening to contemplate the fact that we seem poised to intervene in the Syrian civil war in such a way as to raise the specter of a much wider regional conflict, with the potential to threaten Israel and, even, engage the Russians. It is appalling to consider that we would even think of such a move when, as *everyone* knows, its success would usher our deadly enemy al Qaeda into power in that nation, with terrible consequences for the ancient Christian remnant there, as well as for anyone else not suffused with the terrible zeal of the jihadim. It is horrifying to think that we might send our sons into battle for … not even for nothing, but for less than nothing, in sheer terms of geopolitical advantage.

But what really takes the cake is that the main reason we seem ready to attack is that, it is argued, we must do so in order to maintain the international credibility of Barack Obama as a serious statesman.

If you need to do something to make yourself seem credible, it’s already too late: the very need to do such a thing demonstrates that you have no credibility to begin with.

So naturally, whatever you do will be apprehended as vain posturing. And this means that whatever you do it will be seen as *immoral:* false and wrong, because improperly motivated and dishonestly undertaken.

Moderns have played “let’s pretend” with all our lives – with the economy, with healthcare, with “rights,” with the environment, with race and immigration, with sex, you name it – for many decades, and as their presumption has grown, so have the immensities of their prevarications. These lies have cost us all real money, have killed thousands, nay millions of people. All that is very bad; is evil.

But never before have they proposed explicitly that we should *go to war* so as to protect their Potemkin village from toppling over, so they can keep playing their game of “let’s pretend.”

No one is really deceived. Everyone knows perfectly well what is going on. They all play along, because they feel they must. But the whole charade is wearing awfully thin. Look at Boehner’s face, and you can see it: