THIS TAX HOPE OF VIRGINIA POSTREL’S didn’t bear fruit in the last Congress. “How about a loophole-closing, rate-flattening 1986-style tax reform from the new Congress? It would be a lobbyist nightmare, and a repudiation of the Clinton administration’s zillions of tax credits for good behavior (extended by the Bushies). But if I squint really hard I can see it happening.”

Is it too much to hope for better next time around? Well, probably.