A couple of years ago, James Mann wrote a wonderful and bracing little book called The China Fantasy: How Our Leaders Explain Away Chinese Repression. I reviewed it for NR (here). And I was quite startled at something that Mann quoted from Thomas L. Friedman, who has won the Pulitzer Prize three times. Mann wrote, “On one visit to China, [Friedman] confessed he was envious of the Chinese system, ‘where leaders can, and do, just order that problems be solved.’” Mann then quoted a chunk of a Friedman column:

For instance, Shanghai’s deputy mayor told me that as his city became more polluted, the government simply moved thousands of small manufacturers out of Shanghai to clean up the air. . . . At this time, when democracies, like India and America, seem incapable of making hard decisions, I cannot help but feel a tinge of jealousy at China’s ability to be serious about its problems and actually do things that are tough and require taking things away from people.

Yes, the Chinese Communists are very good at “taking things away from people.” Always have been. You might even say that taking things away from people is their specialty. Sometimes it’s their lives — people’s lives. Especially if those people are democrats who speak up for a better life.

Three times, ladies and gentlemen. Three times has Thomas L. Friedman won the Pulitzer Prize. Think about his statement that “I cannot help but feel a tinge of jealousy,” realize the context in which he is making it, and shudder.

P.S. When it comes to Friedmans, I’ll take Milton. Or Ignaz. Or various personal friends . . .