Worship of the Plan

Since the dawn of the New Era in 1933 there has sprung into being what may easily be an excessive worship of planning. One would be foolish to decry plans as a general thing, but to overstress their importance is certainly possible, just as any other good thing can be overdone. If a plan is to be useful, it is necessary that the planners know how to plan, and realize also that a failure to take into account opposing strains and stresses bodes ill for a plan's success. The plan is a means to an endnot the be-all and end-all that enthusiasts seem to think it should be. It is well to remember that we are dealing with human beings—not idealized automata, or puppets who are sure to act thus-and-so when one pulls the strings. Human nature is a terribly perverse thing; but they reckon ill who leave it out.

Moreover the planners themselves are human, and are not transformed into godlike infallibles merely by being assembled in Washington under an array of alphabetical designations. This has come to be increasingly apparent during the war when the Great God Plan is most eagerly deified. One result is likely to be that when peace returns there will be far fewer people in love with the idea of being constantly overseen from Washington in all details of personal, domestic and business life. Americans can stand a lot of dictatorial pushing around during a war crisis, but they aren't likely to be complacent toward it when a crisis is safely weathered.