This is a pretty good quote. I saw it in an article about Europe, but it seems to apply all over the place.
"Wooden-headedness, the source of self-deception, is a factor that plays a remarkably large role in government," Tuchman wrote.
"It consists in assessing a situation in terms of preconceived fixed notions while ignoring or rejecting any contrary signs. It is acting according to wish while not allowing oneself to be deflected by the facts.
"It is epitomized by a historian's statement about Philip II of Spain, the most wooden-headed of all sovereigns: 'No experience of the failure of his policy could shake his belief in its essential excellence.'"
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