LAT does journalism

Today on page one, column one, the LAT prints a story by reporter Robyn Dixon about a white Zimbabwean farmer who is trying to exist in a country run by a totalitarian socialist dictator named Robert Mugabe. It's a compelling piece written by an obviously talented writer and it's enlightening in two ways. First, it demonstrates what the LAT could be if it would ween itself off publishing left-wing political propaganda and instead were to concentrate on being a first class journalistic enterprise dedicated to impartial enlightenment. Second, it shows what happens when a government strips people of their property rights. Zimbabwe, once the breadbasket of Africa, is bankrupt, its money worthless and its people desperate, all because of an English educated African socialist who became Zimbabwe's dictator. There's a lesson there for American socialist in the academy, journalism, environmentalism and politics who believe that they can improve on free market private enterprise capitalism.