In a stunning development, the Massachusetts legislature today passed a bill requiring its citizens to eat broccoli at least once a week. The governor has said he will sign the bill into law.

"Justice Scalia gave us the idea," said Senate President Therese Murray before continuing:

"We realized that...

The use of drones for military purposes is accelerating rapidly, accompanied by some commentary and public discussion of the impact and implications of their use. Thus far, however, the discussion has omitted some of the most important implications of the continuing development of drones. To better understand the problems raised...

We should retire the word "privatization" in favor of its Big Brother, "corporatization." "Privatization" can sound pretty good to conservative ears. To them, it means getting things out of government hands, away from the control (and assumed mismanagement and inefficiency) of bureaucrats. In the best case, the market will work...

Silliness about the debt ceiling has risen to the absurd. Anyone who steps back from the swirl of current arguments will immediately see that there is an easy, almost unavoidable exit from our current paralysis, and President Obama controls it. If Congress cannot reach agreement on terms for raising the...

Sarah Palin appeals to Americans' greatest conceit and greatest weakness. That makes her extremely dangerous.

Understanding the dangers in Palin's appeal requires an understanding of aspects of America's national experience. America began as an open frontier, a place to escape the constrictions and limitations of the Old World. It was...

One seeming paradox of the Obama candidacy has been the way charges of his elitism parallel charges of his mere celebrity and lack of depth. No amount of exposure or recitation of facts seems adequate to overcome certain voters' susceptibility to such charges. We hear simultaneously that voters don't know...

We liberals have just received a valuable reality check. It came none too soon. We may now begin to cope with reality more effectively.

Many of the blows Barack Obama has given the body of his supporters in the last few weeks should not have surprised us.

• Accepting...