“See You Next Tyranny Day”
“According to New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman in his mega-best-selling book Hot, Flat, and Crowded, China banned plastic bags a few years ago. “Bam! Just like that–1.3 billion people, theoretically, will stop using thin plastic bags,” he gushed. “Millions of barrels of petroleum will be saved, and mountains of garbage avoided.”
China’s got us beat, suggests Friedman, because its leaders aren’t hung up on democracy, checks and balances, or any of the other dusty old impediments found in the American system. Friedman has proclaimed his envy for China’s authoritarian system countless times. It’s why he titled one of the chapters in his book “China for a Day.” The idea–he calls it his “fantasy”–is that if we could just be China for a day, the experts could impose by diktat what they cannot win through democratic debate.” Read more.
“See You Next Tyranny Day”
Jonah Goldberg
National Review Online, July 9, 2010.
Via the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.
Image by Ian Kahn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
