famously insane according to who? The founding mantra of the editorial board:
"We are united by the mantra 'free markets and free people', the principles, if you will, marked in the watershed year of 1776 by Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence and Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. So over the past century and into the next, the Journal stands for free trade and sound money; against confiscatory taxation and the ukases of kings and other collectivists; and for individual autonomy against dictators, bullies and even the tempers of momentary majorities. If these principles sound unexceptionable in theory, applying them to current issues is often unfashionable and controversial."
What is insane about advocating free markets and sound money?
Despite their professed editorial line, in practice they're much more conservative than libertarian. For example, they are strong supporters of the War on Terror, both in terms of an interventionist foreign policy and ramping up domestic security measures. They also lean towards some support for Christian and social conservatism, though that part is weaker.
More problematically from my perspective, their opinion pages are notoriously loose with facts. It's one thing to argue a position, and another to just produce propaganda. For example, here is an exceedingly unsatisfactory treatment of what the Bible says about capitalism and prosperity (an interesting and somewhat complex issue, because the Bible has many things to say about it, which this piece ignores): http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020380650457717...
"We are united by the mantra 'free markets and free people', the principles, if you will, marked in the watershed year of 1776 by Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence and Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. So over the past century and into the next, the Journal stands for free trade and sound money; against confiscatory taxation and the ukases of kings and other collectivists; and for individual autonomy against dictators, bullies and even the tempers of momentary majorities. If these principles sound unexceptionable in theory, applying them to current issues is often unfashionable and controversial."
What is insane about advocating free markets and sound money?