We Can’t Even Agree on Where to Buy Cereal

Mr. Bruni is a contributing Opinion writer who was on the staff of The Times for more than 25 years.

Costco is having a moment. I don’t mean as a bazaar of bizarrely large quantities of walnuts, Wheat Thins and teeth-whitening toothpaste. I mean as a symbol. As a retort to what’s wrong with America beyond its unvarnished walls.

In The Atlantic in December, Jake Lundberg wrote an excellent tribute to Costco’s efficiency and constancy: “In an age of broken institutions, insufferable politics and billionaire businessmen auditioning to be Bond villains, most things feel like they’re getting worse. Costco seems to stay the same.”

Adam Chandler evidently agrees. In The Wall Street........

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