A Leftist Leader with the Right Idea

Can you imagine a nation’s president, a former guerilla fighter with socialist leanings, enacting policies that favor business and encourage foreign investment?

How about a leader who prefers living in a farmhouse rather than the presidential mansion?

That person is José Mujica, the 79-year-old president of Uruguay who finishes his five-year term in March. Uruguay, a small South American country sandwiched between Argentina and Brazil, does not allow a president to stand for reelection, so later this spring, Mujica will take a seat in the senate.

In the 60s and 70s, Mujica was a guerrilla lead...