I Was Wrong About Thomas L. Friedman

There are times in man's life when he just has to admit he was wrong and move on. Today is one of those times. In his New York Times op-ed of November 17, entitled, "What They Really Believe," self appointed green nanny Thomas L. Friedman says:

"And we believe the best way to launch [Energy Technology] is to set a fixed, long-term price on carbon — combine it with the Obama team’s impressive stimulus for green-tech — and then let the free market and innovation do the rest."

And, all this time, I thought he was an avowed anti-capitalist communist. I guess I was just wrong. I should have seen the signs when he had a chapter in his book, "The World is Flat," entitled, "China for Just One Day."

Take a close look at the theme here, it is ludicrous on the surface of it -- fix the game, then let the free market work. In "The World is Flat," Friedman strikes a similar theme, if we could just have a totalitarian government for one day, we could destroy capitalism, then let the "free market" work. Friedman has the odd view that government should make a set of counter-intuitive rules and regulations before turning anything over to free market innovation. You have to read the Constitution to understand how truly wrong this is. Thomas Jefferson would scoff at this notion, as would anyone who values liberty and appreciates the importance of free markets.

But, the really disturbing thing is that many of those who share his "green" views also share his political philosophy, including, of course, Barack Obama and his minions. The good news, if there can be any in the light of an increasingly disconnected and fanatic one-party government, is that the attempt to destroy capitalism known as "cap and trade," may finally be dead. Majority Leader Harry Reid, soon to be the ex-Senator from Nevada, has delayed any debate on cap and trade until the spring. By then, we will be into the mid-term election cycle, joblessness will be approaching 12% and the country will hostile to any plan that will kill even more job growth.

The bad news is that a lot of people at the EPA read Friedman's column, and armed with a Supreme Court decision that carbon is pollution, will try to implement the scheme without Congressional approval. In fact, they are already implementing it, and threaten to accelerate the process. It will take court action to stop them before 2012, when America gives Obama what is likely to be a failing report card. In the meantime, those who care more about power over others, like Friedman, will have field day, and may nanny the rest of us to death.

The only thing that I was wrong about regarding Thomas Friedman was when I thought in his heart of hearts, he really loved America. About that, I was truly wrong.