An alternative route that allows petroleum to move but imposes extraordinary transportation costs may be strategically useful without being commercially sustainable over the long term.

When local officials warn that property-tax relief could mean fewer police officers, firefighters or emergency services, taxpayers should insist on a different starting point: examine the administrative structure before reducing the services residents depend upon.

The Democrats may intend to bring peace to the Persian Gulf. But if Tehran interprets their congressional majority as an ally against American military pressure, the resulting perception could make a durable peace considerably harder to negotiate.