Absolutely! I always raised my kids with strict guidelines because I knew they would rebel at something. If the kids have no guidelines they will pick the most outrageous thing to do -- quite possibly something harmful or dangerous. With strict guidelines, their rebellion will be within the norm of comventional behavior.
I can't tell you how many times I heard my husband say, "No you can't do that. I don't care what the other kids are doing, you can't do that because you are a (insert family name here)." In my own adolescence, I was told that I couldn't do such and such because my parents were teachers. Same concept, but a concept that is often missing in today's fractured families where mom and dad are too busy with their careers or other relationships to pay attention to what their kids are doing.
I thank God every day that all our children grew up without any serious scrapes, graduated from college, and are raising families with similar rules to what they experienced in their own childhoods. Not only did I have God's help, I had the help of a husband who was involved with their lives -- and he says the same about me.
All kids crave standards and discipline. In fact, I think all human beings do.
BTW, I nominate WW's essay as essay of the week.
I'm flattered you mistook Jeff Jacoby's for one of my rants. He's one of my favorite columnists and a phenomenally talented writer IMO.