Writing for National Review, Jonah Goldberg asks “who’s running the country?” His conclusion: nobody. And that’s a very good thing.

As I read the article, the thought occurred to me that not only is nobody running the country but that — to a very large extent — we are running ourselves. That is reassuring. In a world where many governments do run their countries and the private lives of their citizens, Americans still have overwhelming control over our personal affairs. That is: we are still very free.

A quick look around the world shows how little freedom is afforded the majority of human beings. In Iran, for example, anyone who dances to a silly little song risks a whipping. In Russia, homosexuals live in fear. As for China, res ipsa loquitor. Even Canada has criminalized vaguely-defined hate speech and — although one of the more opprobrious of those laws has been repealed — an amorphous criminal code provision still imposes the risk of prosecution and jail time on those who dare speak their minds in public.