I generally steer clear of Op-Ed pieces and commentary as they usually just spit out the latest party rhetoric on an issue. Bill Harley’s “Life in the Commonwealth” column on NPR’s All Things Considered however, is the rare exception that transcends the “op-ed” column and enters the “Great Essays” category. Listen, and participate with your mind, as he asks you to imagine that libraries didn’t exist and someone proposes an idea to create them. I challenge you, no matter what your politics, to find a flaw in this excersise in alternate-history.