France Retreats!

From ___________ (you fill in the blank). In this case, not only economic modernization, but a nationwide smoking ban, pollution laws, and flea markets.

Flea markets! I can’t imagine the national import of restricting who can sell at a flea market… Perhaps the Flea Union had planned a nationwide strike…. Or perhaps lowering regulations on flea markets is the most significant item of economic liberalization that the French government thinks they can make stick.

John O’Sullivan’s column today notes the inevitable outcome of copying the continent – paralysis, decline, and to follow the French example, eventual rule by the angriest mob.