Over the years I have learned where the trigger points are. One sure way to stir up a storm of anger in Germany, for example, is to say something nice about rich people. Something like: “A country with lots of rich people is generally more pleasant for those on low incomes than a country where all the rich people have been expropriated and their money is in the hands of state parties.” Socialism has been refuted by practice as often as the theory that the earth is flat.
That’s why I know that a column in which I advocate the abolition of the inheritance tax, as happened in Austria a few years ago, will trigger a storm of indignation among readers. That’s how it happened. To apologize, I can only return from the musical La Cage aux Folles quote: I am what I am, and who I am is not ordinary.
