No one in their right mind would claim that Clinton's reckless sexual behavior and its consequences stem from a zealous dedication to marital fidelity. And no one who offered such a patently ridiculous line would be respectfully interviewed on PBS news shows or published in The Washington Post . But if you're talking about Russia a different standard applies. It's conventional wisdom that fidelity leads to adultery. From experts both inside and outside Russia, we hear that the country's economy is falling apart because of unregulated free markets and too much reform.
Leftists are ecstatic.
Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union they've been looking for a club with which to beat back the idea that markets lead to progress and prosperity. It's even the same country that made socialism look so bad. With serious aid, we could have helped true reformers build an effective democratic state and a modern mixed economy. Instead, the Russians got laissez-faire gangster capitalism. Markets equal the mafia.