Primary Documents
- 01. Declaration of Independence
- 02. Constitution of the United States
- 03. Dred Scott Decision (Abridged)
- 04. Dred Scott Decision (Full Text)
- 05. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
- 06. William Jennings Bryan's "Cross of Gold" Speech
- 07. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" Speech
- 08. Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society Speech"
- 09. Barack Obama's "We the People" Speech
- 10. Declaration of the Rights of Man (France,1789)
- 11. Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Category Archives: Economy
IT CAN HAPPEN HERE U.S. politics today are not democratic politics. Economic power is political power, and in the United States many of the holders of economic power have ceased to engage in democratic politics. Raw economic power has transformed … Continue reading
Enough Talk about Race
Enough Talk about Race Chief Justice Roger Taney’s 1857 decision in the Dred Scott case shifted the national discussion from slavery to race, and we’ve been talking about race ever since. Group therapy to deal with our personal discriminations … Continue reading
Posted in Dignity, Economy, Equality
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The Road to Serfdom: The Tea Party
As a lifelong liberal, I have belatedly undertaken an effort to understand the thinking of libertarians. An early project was the reading of F.A. Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that, in spite of the … Continue reading
Posted in Book Review, Economy, Effective Government, Free Market Ideology
Tagged Freedom, Hayek, Tea Party
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Milton Friedman and the Anarchic Unicorn
Milton Friedman, through his 1980 PBS TV series and subsequent book entitled Free to Choose, did much to make free market ideology attractive to many Americans. The TV series remains available online and on DVD, and the book remains in … Continue reading
Market Economy versus Market Society
Michael Sandel’s What Money Can’t Buy is noteworthy in part for the teacherly technique employed. Sandel develops his thesis anecdotally rather than analytically. This procedure appears designed to force readers to experience a series of situations in which market values … Continue reading
Gildered: Why the Rich Could Steal America
The great story of American life over the past 40 years is the rising political power of wealth, both personal and corporate. The process is central to our cultural adjustment to the 1960s. We celebrate the enhancement in the 1960s … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Equality, White male Status
Tagged American Myths, George Gilder, Supply Side Economics
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Perfecting Our Union 