If you were born in this country, there is a high probability that you know less about the Constitution and American history than do immigrants who become citizens. And various studies indicate that you might also flunk the citizenship exam.

A national registry of the vaccinated is a bad idea.

Something as simple as a March 5 telephone call from President Joe Biden to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen brought a temporary trade-war cease-fire and a four-month hold on high-volume tariffs imposed by both nations. Hopefully, it points not to months, but to decades, of calm, wealth-enhancing trade for U.S. and European consumers.

In a twist of fate and odd timing during the coronavirus pandemic, the United States Postal Service has managed to demonstrate through its inefficiencies its value. That’s right. Residents across the U.S. are clamoring for mail delivery from the independent, federal agency that has been trying to prove its relevance for nearly two decades.

For a conservative Republican, U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho did something extraordinary last month. By unveiling a proposal for a giant Pacific Northwest infrastructure overhaul that includes breaching four perennially disputed, fish-eradicating hydroelectric dams on the Snake River, he displayed the courage to accept an environmental reality that other conservatives have refused to face: These dams must go.

President Joe Biden signed a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill on Thursday that brings total federal spending to combat the pandemic over the last year to about $6 trillion. He also plans to tee up a huge infrastructure outlay of about $4 trillion over the next 10 years on roads, bridges, tunnels, energy grids, strategic industries and other needs.

Millions of people tuned into the riveting interview of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, about their struggles with the royal family as the most high-profile interracial couple in today’s world. Their experience with racism was shocking to many — but, unfortunately, not the thousands of other biracial couples in this country who face similar treatment on a regular basis.

The American Rescue Plan, now law from President Joe Biden’s pen, is first, last and only a COVID-19 relief bill, as it should be, coming on the one-year anniversary of the pandemic’s declaration. It is not a transformation of the country’s priorities, as some advocates on the left claim, and a second coming of the Great Society.

It’s nearly that time of year again when Americans reset their clocks one hour ahead, grumble about losing an hour of sleep — and wonder why on Earth we keep observing the outdated tradition of tinkering with time twice a year.

We’re starting to see the outlines of President Joe Biden’s foreign policy, and you won’t be shocked to hear that it’s looking very different from President Donald Trump’s.

The statistical measures of the COVID-19 pandemic, which a year ago forced a stunning global shutdown of schools, businesses and travel, can be hard to contextualize. We’ve swept past 2,600,000 dead worldwide, with a fifth of them — more than 525,000 — in the U.S., and more than 54,000 of those in California. The human impact is staggering and still growing — 117 million cases globally, nearly 30 million in the U.S. — and the full effects won’t be known until this crisis is safely behind us.

President Joe Biden is facing a critical test as a surge of migrants, emboldened by the end of the Trump era, is arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border in hopes of forging better lives here in the U.S. One challenge in particular is the sharp increase in unaccompanied minors.

Since 1999, when the unconstrained prescription of painkillers was beginning to emerge as a public-health crisis, more than 535,000 lives have been lost to opioid overdoses. If that grim number seems familiar, it’s just a bit higher than COVID-19’s toll of 527,000 deaths so far.

Former Republican president Donald Trump is trying to block the Republican National Committee from using his image in their fundraising efforts. He has no legal case: Trump is a public figure and can’t stop anyone from using his image in the course of political speech. But if you think of it in terms of U.S. campaign finance customs rather than in terms of free speech, Trump has a point. And that is very rare indeed.

One reason for our relentless “culture wars” and anxieties about “cancel culture” might be our misguided sense of what culture is — and how easily we can change it.

George Floyd became an unwitting symbol of the systemic problem of police brutality in May, when he was callously killed by a Minnesota cop, who knelt on his neck for nearly 10 minutes, a ruthless act caught on video for all the world to see. Calls for police reform and for justice — not only for Floyd, but all the other Black men who have lost their lives through encounters with law enforcement — ensued over the summer in cities across the country. Floyd’s death also reinvigorated legislative reform efforts in Congress and states like Maryland, which is on the cusp of strengthening accountability measures for police. Not everyone believes reform legislation pending in the Maryland General Assembly goes far enough, but it is far better than what is currently on the books.

Richard Weishaupt, a disability attorney at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, has just met with his first client with what’s known as “long-haul” COVID-19 — symptoms that persist beyond a couple of weeks in which the infection typically runs its course.

Economists concerned about slowing productivity have spent the past decade hotly debating the value of free digital services such as Google’s web search and Amazon’s online store. But those online services have proven their worth during the pandemic. And COVID-19 may ultimately push our society to learn new ways of using digital technologies that accelerate productivity growth.

The Biden administration has opted for now not to impose new sanctions on Nord Stream 2, the pipeline that will double the amount of natural gas Russia transports directly to Europe. For the time being, the decision allows the U.S. to avoid a confrontation with Germany, the project’s main supporter. It also risks inflaming Congress and handing a geopolitical victory to Vladimir Putin.