Search

2706 results

• Counterfeit Rights, Cold Bureaucracies
  fee.org > articles > counterfeit-rights-cold-bureaucracies
  Sheldon Richman | Friday, August 31, 2007
  If you were reading with only one eye open or only two hours' sleep you might have thought Paul Krugman had finally stumbled onto the truth. In his Monday New York Times op-ed, “A Socialist Plot,” he wrote: “[L]et's end this un-American system and make education what it should be — a matter of individual responsibility and private enterprise. Oh, and we shouldn't have any government mandates that force children to get educated, either…. The truth is that there's no difference in principle between saying that every American child is entitled to an education and saying that every American child is entitled to adequate health care.” More . . .
  
  

  A NEW article by Sheldon Richman

  
  

• The Goal Is Freedom: Counterfeit Rights, Cold Bureaucracies
  fee.org > resources > the-goal-is-freedom-counterfeit-rights-cold-bureaucracies
  Sheldon Richman |
  If you were reading with only one eye open or only two hours' sleep you might have thought Paul Krugman had finally stumbled onto the truth. In his Monday New York Times op-ed, “A Socialist Plot,” he wrote: “[L]et's end this un-American system and make education what it should be — a matter of individual responsibility and private enterprise. Oh, and we shouldn't have any government mandates that force children to get educated, either…. The truth is that there's no difference in principle between saying that every American child is entitled to an education and saying that every American child is entitled to adequate health care.” More . . .
  
  

  A NEW article by Sheldon Richman

  
  

• Labor, Business Oppose Workplace Raids
  fee.org > resources > labor-business-oppose-workplace-raids
  FEE.org Web Bot | Thursday, August 30, 2007
  “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO this week separately assailed a new White House-backed crackdown on illegal immigration, warning of massive disruptions to the economy and headaches for U.S. citizens if the proposal goes ahead as planned in the coming days.” (Washington Post, Thursday)
  
  Strange bedfellows in a good cause.
  
  FEE Timely Classic
  “Free to Migrate” by Sheldon Richman
• The Goal Is Freedom: Bad Policy Drives Out Good
  fee.org > resources > the-goal-is-freedom-bad-policy-drives-out-good
  Sheldon Richman | Friday, August 24, 2007
  All public policies are related. Okay, that may be a slight overstatement, but there's a point here. A politician's credibility on one public issue — and thus the disposition of that issue — will often be determined by his or her position on other issues. People will look at a politician's full program as a way of judging good faith. Case in point: the Bush administration's announcement that it will limit the states' ability to extend medical coverage through the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to families that do not qualify for poverty programs because they make too much money. More . . .
  
  

  A NEW article by Sheldon Richman

  
  

• Court Backs Guantanamo Detainees' Bid for Evidence
  fee.org > resources > court-backs-guantanamo-detaineesapos-bid-for-evidence
  FEE.org Web Bot | Monday, July 23, 2007
  “When Guantanamo Bay detainees challenge their status as 'enemy combatants,' judges must review all the evidence, not just what the military chooses, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.” (USA Today, Friday)
  
  A small win for the rights of suspects.
  
  FEE Timely Classic
  “Habeas Corpus's Fork in the Road” by Sheldon Richman
• The Common Sense of “Common Sense”
  fee.org > articles > the-common-sense-of-common-sense
  Sheldon Richman | Friday, July 20, 2007
  In January 1776, less than a year into the American War for Independence, Thomas Paine published “Common Sense.” In John Adams, historian David McCullough writes, “In little time more than 100,000 copies were in circulation.” In proportion to today's U.S. population, that's equivalent to 12 million copies, which puts the pamphlet in Harry Potter's league. I leave it to the reader to contemplate what this says about the literacy of a people so cruelly deprived of “public” schools. That eighteenth-century Americans would demand so many copies of a sophisticated piece of writing might be of interest to those working overtime to solve our society's national reading crisis. More . . .
  

  A NEW article by Sheldon Richman

  
  

• The Goal Is Freedom: The Common Sense of “Common Sense”
  fee.org > resources > the-goal-is-freedom-the-common-sense-of-common-sense
  Sheldon Richman |
  In January 1776, less than a year into the American War for Independence, Thomas Paine published “Common Sense.” In John Adams, historian David McCullough writes, “In little time more than 100,000 copies were in circulation.” In proportion to today's U.S. population, that's equivalent to 12 million copies, which puts the pamphlet in Harry Potter's league. I leave it to the reader to contemplate what this says about the literacy of a people so cruelly deprived of “public” schools. That eighteenth-century Americans would demand so many copies of a sophisticated piece of writing might be of interest to those working overtime to solve our society's national reading crisis. More . . .
  

  A NEW article by Sheldon Richman

  
  

• Class Struggle Rightly Conceived
  fee.org > resources > class-struggle-rightly-conceived
  Sheldon Richman | Friday, July 13, 2007
  Karl Marx is famous for drawing attention to the idea of class struggle. Yet remarkably in 1852, historian David Hart recounts, Marx wrote, “[A]s far as I am concerned, the credit for having discovered the existence and the conflict of classes in modern society does not belong to me. Bourgeois historians presented the historical development of this class struggle, and the economists showed its economic anatomy long before I did.” By “bourgeois historians” and “economists” Marx meant laissez-faire liberals such as Charles Comte, Charles Dunoyer, and early nineteenth-century French writers. In light of Marx's words, it's worth exploring “the historical development of class struggle” as seen from the perspective of the classical liberals.
• A Second Look at the Slave-Trade Bicentennial
  fee.org > resources > a-second-look-at-the-slave-trade-bicentennial
  FEE.org Web Bot | Thursday, June 28, 2007
  Honoring Great Britain's withdrawal from the international slave trade has been an ongoing public event this year. The recurring message has been that the withdrawal — a watershed event in the elimination of slavery in the West — was largely the result of the actions of a single British politician, William Wilberforce. Wilberforce, imbued with strong Christian convictions, began his antislave-trade crusade with a 1789 speech in Parliament; he continued his quest for 18 years before Great Britain bowed out of the trade. Wilberforce's story was the subject of the movie Amazing Grace earlier this year. Curiously, a number of significant, concurrent American subplots have gone unnoted in this Wilberforce-centered tribute. More . . .
  
  

  A NEW article by T. Norman Van Cott

  
  

• Bills Battle over Fairness Doctrine
  fee.org > resources > bills-battle-over-fairness-doctrine
  FEE.org Web Bot |
  “Amid a new push by Democrats in Congress to regulate talk radio — a medium dominated by conservatives — a Republican House member has introduced a measure aimed at undercutting those plans.” (CNSNews.com, Thursday)
  
  So much for free speech.
  
  FEE Timely Classic
  “Fairness Doctrine, R.I.P.” by Jorge Amador