Quiet car

Matthew Kaminski is an American journalist living in Paris, where he works as the editor of The Wall Street Journal Europe's editorial page. (Nice gig, isn't it.) During the Holidays, he and his family visited the United States and rode an Amtrak train. He describes his experience in the article which appeared in the Stateside Journal on Friday January 11, 2008, which I link at the end of this post. Here are some of my favorite quotes from it:

In this young century, we've launched a crusade, instituting all sorts of rules, in the name of making everyone happy and healthy. [...] With the proliferation of fiats intended to make people act more considerately toward one another, we've seen public civility steadily erode. [...] never before have so many different kinds of people felt empowered to demand special privileges for themselves that in some way infringe on another person's habits, good or bad.

A friend with a philosophical bent notes that as civility retreats into competing claims of entitlement, the "invisible hand" of courtesy and sympathy is replaced by the soft despotism of the state. Someone has to settle the disputes over various rights. Inevitably, that's the government (or Amtrak). "It's a bit like kids fighting," he emailed. "If they can work it out themselves, they're probably both better off. Once they go to daddy or mommy for a ruling, somebody's going to lose." I'd like to think my children would (quietly) agree.

Read the whole thing while it's available. Here's the link.