The Opinion Pages

Leif Parsons
Opinionator | The Stone

‘Quixote,’ Colbert and the Reality of Fiction

Did Cervantes invent “truthiness”? A writer examines how the 17th-century master’s multilayered world mirrors the realities and absurdities of our modern age.

PAUL KRUGMAN

Euro Zone Death Trip

There is a frightening gap between what the euro needs to survive and what the policy elites are willing to do. comment iconComment

Editorial

An Indefensible Punishment

The death penalty, unjust and arbitrary, cannot be made to conform to the Constitution. comment iconComment

Op-Ed Contributor

Why the Antichrist Matters in Politics

Apocalyptic fears helped fuel the antigovernment movements of the 1930s and ’40s and could play a role in the 2012 elections, too.

Op-Ed Contributor

Germany’s Mediterranean Envy

Why are Germans willing to reach deep into their pockets for many billions of euros to bail out Zorba the Greek and his lackadaisical neighbors?

Op-Ed Contributor

Pennies From Many

A proposal on crowdfunding would make it legal for ordinary investors to put some money (but not enough to bankrupt them) into small, private companies online.

Room For Debate

Ban Fur? Then Why Not Leather?

Is there a meaningful distinction, or are these battles just "the politics of the possible"?

Editorial

New Haven’s Teacher Improvement Plan

Rigorous evaluations make it possible to identify, retrain or push out bad teachers.

Editorial

In Japan, the Summer of Setsuden

In an ambitious and successful campaign to power down after the March earthquake, Japan showed what can be done to overcome an energy crisis.

Editorial

Justice and the Suffolk County Police

There is a lot of work to be done if the local government is to repair its shamefully toxic relationship with immigrants in the community.

Opinionator | Disunion

Up South

During the war, Northern and Southern sympathies clashed in the lower Midwest.

Opinionator | Fixes

For Many, a Life-Saving Drug Out of Reach

Deaths by overdose could be cut dramatically if Naloxone were available over the counter and placed in every first aid kit.

Opinionator | Townies

One Dark Night in My Neighborhood

On a familiar street, on a night like any other, something strange happened.

The Strip | Brian McFadden

Class-War Action Toys

Brian McFadden

Play “haves” and “have-nots” in your very own lopsided adventure.

Latest From the Opinion Blogs

Paul Krugman

Who Will Techno the Technocrats?

Ross Douthat

Notes on the Death Penalty

Dot Earth

A Passing: Wangari Maathai

Mark Bittman

Is Junk Food Really Cheaper?

Nicholas D. Kristof

Helping Somali Famine Victims

Public Editor's Journal

A Reporter Shields His Identity and an Iranian Exile Group's Viewpoint Goes Missing

David Brooks

Governing in the Gap