[PDF] Liberty In Peril eBook

Author : Randall G. Holcombe
Publisher : Independent Institute
Page : 312 pages
File Size : 44,4 MB
Release : 2019-09-01
Category : History
ISBN : 1598133349

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When the United States was born in the revolutionary acts of 1776, Americans viewed the role of government as the protector of their individual rights. Thus, the fundamental principle underlying the new American government was liberty. Over time, the ideology of political "democracy"—the idea that the role of government is to carry out the "will of the people," as revealed through majority rule—has displaced the ethics of liberty. This displacement has eroded individual rights systematically and that history is examined in Liberty in Peril by Randall Holcombe in language accessible to anyone. The Founders intended to design a government that would preclude tyranny and protect those individual rights, and the Bill of Rights was a clear statement of those rights. They well understood that the most serious threat to human rights and liberty is government. So, the Constitution clearly outlined a limited scope for government and set forth a form of governance that would preserve individual rights. The federal government's activities during two world wars and the Great Depression greatly increased government's involvement in people's lives. By the time of Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society," the depletion of rights and the growth of the activities of political democracy was complete. By the end of the 20th Century the fundamental principle underlying the U.S. government was now political power and not liberty. Public policy was oriented toward fulfilling the majority rule with the subsequent increase in government power and scope. Holcombe argues that economic and political systems are not separate entities but are intimately intertwined. The result is a set of tensions between democracy, liberty, a market economy, and the institutions of a free society. All those interested in the evolution of American government, including historians, political scientists, economists, and legal experts, will find this book compelling and informative.

Author : Stephen Breyer
Publisher : Vintage
Page : 176 pages
File Size : 48,49 MB
Release : 2007-12-18
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0307424618

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A brilliant new approach to the Constitution and courts of the United States by Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.For Justice Breyer, the Constitution’s primary role is to preserve and encourage what he calls “active liberty”: citizen participation in shaping government and its laws. As this book argues, promoting active liberty requires judicial modesty and deference to Congress; it also means recognizing the changing needs and demands of the populace. Indeed, the Constitution’s lasting brilliance is that its principles may be adapted to cope with unanticipated situations, and Breyer makes a powerful case against treating it as a static guide intended for a world that is dead and gone. Using contemporary examples from federalism to privacy to affirmative action, this is a vital contribution to the ongoing debate over the role and power of our courts.

Author : Bruce Fein
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
Page : 253 pages
File Size : 29,16 MB
Release : 2015-06-09
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 1250087090

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Renowned attorney and political critic Bruce Fein reveals the dangers our Constitution and our nation have faced courtesy of the Bush Administration and a Congress asleep at the switch. In blistering detail, he deconstructs the policies of Bush in the War on Terror--from the flouting of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to the crippling of the Great Writ of habeas corpus--and forecasts that the damage he's done is unlikely to be repaired quickly or easily. As Barack Obama takes office, there are questions that involve the very foundations of our government and the degrees to which they have been undermined, either actively or passively, by nearly everyone in power today. By exploring the constitutional crises of the past--from Lincoln and habeas corpus to Nixon and Watergate--Fein compellingly and presciently begins to answer those questions.

Author : Wendy Kaminer
Publisher :
Page : 264 pages
File Size : 25,53 MB
Release : 2002-09-15
Category : History
ISBN :

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A lawyer, social critic, and columnist at "The American Prospect, " Kaminer sets her sights on the fate of civil liberties in America.

Author : David Hackett Fischer
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 880 pages
File Size : 25,77 MB
Release : 2005
Category : History
ISBN : 9780195162530

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The bestselling author of "Washington's Crossing" and "Albion's Seed" offers a strikingly original history of America's founding principles. Fischer examines liberty and freedom not as philosophical or political abstractions, but as folkways and popular beliefs deeply embedded in American culture. 400+ illustrations, 250 in full color.

Author : Desmond King
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 44,92 MB
Release : 2004-12-09
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0190287144

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Harry S. Truman once said, "Ours is a nation of many different groups, of different races, of different national origins." And yet, the debate over what it means--and what it takes--to be an American remains contentious. Nationalist solidarity, many claim, requires a willful blending into the assimilationist alloy of these United States. Others argue that the interests of both nation and individual are best served by allowing multiple traditions to flourish--a salad bowl of identities and allegiances, rather than a melting pot. Tracing how Americans have confronted and relinquished, but mostly clung to group identities over the past century, Desmond King here debunks one of the guiding assumptions of American nationhood, namely that group distinction and identification would gradually dissolve over time, creating a "postethnic" nation. Over the course of the twentieth century, King shows, the divisions in American society arising from group loyalties have consistently proven themselves too strong to dissolve. For better or for worse, the often-disparaged politics of multiculturalism are here to stay, with profound implications for America's democracy. Americans have now entered a post-multiculturalist settlement in which the renewal of democracy continues to depend on groups battling it out in political trenches, yet the process is ruled by a newly invigorated and strengthened state. But Americans' resolute embrace of their distinctive identities has ramifications not just internally and domestically but on the world stage as well. The image of one-people American nationhood so commonly projected abroad camouflages the country's sprawling, often messy diversity: a lesson that nation-builders worldwide cannot afford to ignore as they attempt to accommodate ever-evolving group needs and the demands of individuals to be treated equally. Spanning the entire twentieth century and encompassing immigration policies, the nationalistic fallout from both world wars, the civil rights movement, and nation-building efforts in the postcolonial era, The Liberty of Strangers advances a major new interpretation of American nationalism and the future prospects for diverse democracies.

Author : Patrick French
Publisher : Penguin UK
Page : 701 pages
File Size : 18,64 MB
Release : 2011-09-08
Category : History
ISBN : 0241950414

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At midnight on 14 August 1947, Britain's 350-year-old Indian Empire was broken into three pieces. The greatest mass migration in history began, as Muslims fled north and Hindus fled south, and Britain's role as an imperial power came to an end. Patrick French's vivid and surprising account of the chaotic final years of colonial rule in India has been acclaimed as the definitive book on this subject. Journeying across India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, he brings to life a cast of characters including spies, idealists, freedom fighters and politicians from Churchill to Gandhi.