On the same page, E. J. Dionne Jr. has an op-ed claiming that Paul Bremer’s desire for all Iraqi citizens to benefit from Iraq’s oil wealth is “socialist.” Not that that’s a bad thing. Hostility to socialism is “ideological claptrap” that we wisely ignore. Medicare and Social Security are “socialist” programs, after all.

Actually, Dionne’s characterization is an overstatement. But hey, fine with me: Let’s not complain the next time a Republican backbencher or conservative direct-mail piece warns of creeping socialism in America.

As for Iraqi oil: Dionne says that the American equivalent of Bremer’s idea would be to take “all the profits from the oil industry–or, perhaps, the entire energy sector–and split[] them up among all Americans. Bremer is operating here in teh tradition of the legendary Louisiana populist Huey Long…” The analogy would work just fine, if America’s energy sector had previously been nationalized. In the world we actually inhabit, the idea of giving Iraqis shares, preferably tradable, has been talked up more by conservatives and libertarians than by progressives. Glenn Reynolds is no socialist.