Libertarian escapism

The Economist's traditional free market editorial line has taken a battering over the past year. With capitalism 'at bay', the instictively libertarian magazine has been forced into some tactical retreats in its economic prescriptions. Last week, pragmatism trumped idealism, and it called for the nationalisation of some of the world's biggest banks. This week, however it calls for an end to prohibition: the legalisation of the recreational drugs fueling crime, insurgency and additiction across the globe.

In seven days, then, from the practical and probable to the politically impossible. Even if it must conceed ground in the economic sphere, the Economist still carries the flame of political liberty deep into dark recesses where policymakers may never actually tred. The current global downturn is scary enough, but any shock which would cause the Economist to abandon its social advocacy - whether or not one actually agrees with what its proposing - would be truely, truely terrifying.