I got an e-mail praising something I wrote, from SWEDEN of all places. I

replied with the following:

“Thank you, ——. May I say, on behalf of all American conservatives, how

disappointed I am at the failure of Sweden to implode under the burden of

her welfare-state spending… as we have been predicting for 40 years….

Very best wishes, JD.”

My correspondent (who, to make things even more staggering, is a

journalist over there) responded as follows:

“Well Derb, Keep ‘hoping.’ I know that in some twisted way I do. The shock

of implosion is perhaps the only way that the nannied (is that a word?)

people of Sweden could wake up from their reliance on the welfare state.

You have no idea how difficult it can be to be a conservative in this

country…”

Well, I have some idea. But how refreshing to know that little green

shoots of conservatism are pushing up through the asphalt even in Uppsala

and Göteborg.