I doubt that this message was actually posted by Thomas L. Friedman, but it sounds very reasonable nonetheless.

Thomas L. Friedman is the New York Times "Foreign Affairs" columnist who is famous for writing "The Lexus and The Olive Tree." I suspect this is one of his columns. I plan to look into it further.

To the GUEST who posted this: There is no harm in saying who you actually are. Or you can do what lots of other Mudcatters have done and adopt a "handle." We should all welcome well-reasoned and well-mannered postings like this.