Lexington on Spitzer

Lexington of The Economist begins his or her March 15th column by trashing Eliot Spitzer, who deserves it, but then goes off on a tangent. Lexington thinks Americans are too prudish, guilty of criminalizing merely sinful behavior, with the result that bureaucrats have too much power, jails are too full, court calendars are overloaded and the FBI wastes critical resources that could be devoted to tracking down terrorists. The argument is sound but Lexington overdoes it and comes off as an America-hater, which he or she may be, given that he or she probably is a European, transplanted or not.