Articles

WILL: History tends to show that decriminalizing certain drugs could have disastrous effects

WASHINGTON — The human nervous system interacts in pleasing and addictive ways with certain molecules derived from some plants, which is why humans may have developed beer before they developed bread. Psychoactive — consciousness-altering — and addictive drugs are natural, a fact that should immunize policymakers against extravagant hopes as they cope with America’s drug problem, which is convulsing some nations to our south.

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OPINION: 'The Declaration of Independents' on Bachmann's reading list

WASHINGTON — August is upon us, beaches beckon, and Michele Bachmann has set the self-improvement bar high.

OPINION: Congress stands its ground

WASHINGTON — Between 6 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Sunday, the nation began a constitutional course-correction. The current occupant’s vanity and naivete — a dangerous amalgam — are causing the modern presidency to buckle beneath the weight of its pretenses. And Congress is reasserting its responsibilities.

OPINION: Tea party a welcome political development

WASHINGTON — The tea party, the most welcome political development since the Goldwater insurgency in 1964, lacks only the patience necessary when America lacks the consensus required to propel fundamental change through our constitutional system of checks and balances. If Washington’s trajectory could be turned as quickly as tea partyers wish — while conservatives control only one-half of one of the two political branches — their movement would not be as necessary as it is. Fortunately, not much patience is required.

OPINION: Gov. Perry has potent potential

SAN ANTONIO — In the 1850s, on the steps of the Waco courthouse, Wallace Jefferson’s great-great-great-grandfather was sold. Today, Jefferson is chief justice of Texas’ Supreme Court. The governor who nominated him also nominated the state’s first Latina justice. Rick Perry, 61, the longest-serving governor in Texas history and, in his 11th year, currently the nation’s senior governor, says these nominations are two of his proudest accomplishments.

GEORGE WILL: Things fall into place for Texas’ Cruz

DALLAS — For a conservative Texan seeking national office, it could hardly get better than this: In a recent 48-hour span, Ted Cruz, a candidate for next year’s Republican Senate nomination for the seat being vacated by Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison, was endorsed by the Club for Growth PAC, FreedomWorks PAC, talk radio host Mark Levin and Erick Erickson of RedState.com.

OPINION: Bin Laden case shows it may be time for NATO to be abandoned

Osama bin Laden’s death was announced on May 1, a date that once had worldwide significance on the revolutionary calendar of communism, which was America’s national security preoccupation prior to Islamic terrorism. Times change.

Opinion: Free money comes with its own set of pitfalls

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The lobby of the Federal Reserve Bank building here contains a money museum where a sign offers visitors “Free Money.” It is an amusing anomaly, considering the views of the man in charge of the building.

Opinion: Some things just aren’t government’s business

WASHINGTON — Several weeks ago, when President Obama reportedly assured congressional leaders that America’s intervention in Libya would involve “days, not weeks,” skeptics mistakenly worried about mission creep. They should have feared mission gallop.

Opinion: College admittance is the real March Madness

WASHINGTON — For many families, this is March madness — the moment of high anxiety concerning higher education as many colleges announce their admittance decisions. It is the culmination of a protracted mating dance between selective institutions and anxious students. Part agony, part situation comedy, it has provoked Andrew Ferguson to write a laugh-until-your-ribs-squeak book — “Crazy U: One Dad’s Crash Course in Getting His Kid into College.”

Columns

WILL: Legacy airlines suffering from market competition

In 1938, the Civil Aeronautics Act codified a government-managed cartel. In the last three decades there have been 192 airline bankruptcies.

• George Will

WILL: Batter up! Start the season off right with baseball trivia

Think you’re ready for Opening Day? Prove it. Name the person or persons who:

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WILL: Oh, those pesky laws

WASHINGTON — Two policies of the Obama administration illustrate an axiom: As government expands, its lawfulness contracts.

• George Will

WILL: Republicans win by losing

Buckley understood the possibility of constructive defeat. He also understood the need to economize conservatism’s energies.

• George Will

WILL: Santorum a miscast candidate for the GOP

Rather than wait for Super Tuesday’s (March 6) congenial calendar featuring five culturally conservative states (Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Oklahoma, Idaho), Rick Santorum is contesting Michigan, which votes Tuesday, and Ohio.

• George Will

WILL: It’s Romney’s time to step up

WASHINGTON — An Illinois lawyer who had a way with words once characterized a particular argument as weaker than soup made from the shadow of a pigeon that died of starvation. The argument for Mitt Romney benefiting from South Carolina’s voting is almost as weak as Lincoln’s soup, but here it is.

• George Will

WILL: Progress waits for bureaucracy

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Thanks to globalization, and to containerized shipping that began in 1956 and makes globalization work, commodities swiftly move vast distances around the planet. Walmart alone imports 400,000 containers a year. Trade flows can, however, be deflected or even defeated by a distance of just 5 feet.

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OPINION: All Stars note 'kids do not mess up the world, adults do'

CHARLESTON, S.C. — They are nearing 70 now, the 11 men who were 12-year-old boys in 1955 and who are remembered for the baseball games they could not play.

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OPINION: Suddenly, a fun candidate

WASHINGTON — The complaint that Iowa is not a typical American state is true but trivial because there is no such state. Can you name one whose political culture, closely considered, is more like than unlike any other state’s? Anyway, someplace has to go first, and it should be somewhere the natives are receptive and media are not decisive, so marginal candidates have a sporting chance.

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OPINION: Third-party run by Paul would have big impact

Paul is nationally known, has a large base of small donors, and his intense supporters probably could get his name on most states’ ballots.

• George Will