Most Basic of Rights, The: Limitations on Free Speech
In recent years, free speech limitations have been driven by equality issues, particularly concerns about hate speech that targets minority groups. The fact that it is a crime to deny the existence of the Holocaust in some European countries would b...
Most Basic of Rights, The: Religious Voice in the Public Square, The
First Amendment; ban against established religion; Supreme Court; neutrality on matters of morality; concerns about removal of religious voices
Most Basic of Rights, The: Implied Right of Privacy, The
In 1965 the Supreme Court added privacy to the list of protections, reasoning that the freedoms in the Bill of Rights imply an underlying right of privacy. In succeeding decades that interpretation has led to several controversial decisions like Roe...
Pressure Politics: Interest-group Society, An
The history of the nation is full of examples of people with shared beliefs coming together to influence the rules by which we are governed. America is an interest-group society. From the time of the Boston tea party to the civil rights movement and...
American Heritage: Americans Linked by Ideals, Not Ancestry
Ideals rather than common ancestry serve as the basis of the common identity Americans share. Many of these ideals--belief in the autonomy of the individual, limited government that depends on the consent of the governed, and the capacity to share i...
Candidates and Campaigns: Campaign Finance: Call for Reform
Campaign finance reform is difficult to achieve because the people who must vote to change the system are its chief beneficiaries, the incumbent members of Congress. In addition the two political parties differ on what reform means. The Supreme Cour...
The Nation's Welfare: Contrasting Attitudes of Europe and America Toward Social Welfare
Few policy issues facing government officials incite greater controversy than questions related to the country's responsibility to assist those in need. Guest commentators Michael Sandel, Seymour Martin Lipset, and Joel Handler draw distinctions bet...
The Nation's Welfare: Two Divergent Tiers of the American Welfare State, The
As the number of people on welfare roles increased, concern over the cost of public assistance programs grew. By contrast, investment in social insurance programs that benefit the middle class were politically popular, nationally uniform, and immune...
Struggle for Equality, The: Judicial Decisions Contribute to the Quest for Equal Rights
Judicial decisions have contributed to the quest for equal rights, most notably Brown v. Board of Education in which the court took a stand against racially segregated public schooling. The 14th amendment of the Constitution says that no state may s...
Most Basic of Rights, The: Obscenity...Is It Free Speech?
In terms of freedom of expression, equality interests are often at odds with liberty interests when it comes to obscenity. The trick with obscenity is to define it. The written word is rarely labeled as obscene, and fewer and fewer visual materials ...