Dancing In Zimbabwe.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)

Dictatorships: What else could Zimbabwe do to speed its own destruction? How about placing more limits on property rights and leashing anyone who objects?

Jubilant lawmakers danced and cheered Tuesday after voting 103-29 to amend Zimbabwe's constitution to allow the government -- essentially thug-in-chief Robert Mugabe -- to more freely seize white-owned farms and deny passports to those who criticize the government.

Zimbabwe, once a regional breadbasket and economically healthy, has become another level of hell. The jobless rate is over 70%, inflation is in the triple digits (up to 500% in 2004) and there are chronic, widespread shortages, particularly in food and oil. Earlier this year, half of the population needed emergency food aid.

And this is progress from being a British colony?

Not to anyone who has had a fleeting familiarity with reality. But Zimbabwe Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa seems to be pleased that the 22-clause constitutional amendment "will close the chapter of colonization."

Colonization was not perfect. Yet we bet that under the British the economy never contracted 30% in four years, like it did from 1999 to 2003. Nor did per capita income fall over a 24-year ...