Best of
Government

1997

Won by Love


Norma McCorvey - 1997
    Wade Supreme Court case, Norma McCorvey became known as the poster child for the pro-choice movement. But underneath she led a life of drug and alcohol addiction as she increasingly felt alienated by the wealthy and famous elements of the pro-choice crowd. Then to make matters worse, her worst enemy, the pro-life group Operation Rescue, moved in next door to her clinic.Norma's story is a heartwarming tale of how Christians from Operation Rescue -- led by a seven-year-old girl named Emily -- banded together to break through even the hardest of hearts. Few expected that a woman who once told a reporter that she "lived and breathed" for abortion would one day walk next door, give her life to Jesus, and begin working for the people she once hated. Won by Love not only reveals the shocking, inside machinations of the abortion industry, but also reveals an inspiring tale of how God uses love to mold hearts to His service.

The Costs of War: America's Pyrrhic Victories


John V. Denson - 1997
    In the war-torn twentieth century, we rarely hear that one of the main costs of armed conflict is long-term loss of liberty to winners and losers alike. Beyond the obvious and direct costs of dead and wounded soldiers, there is the lifetime struggle of veterans to live with their nightmares and their injuries; the hidden economic costs of inflation, debts, and taxes; and more generally the damages caused to our culture, our morality, and to civilization at large. The new edition is now available in paperback, with a number of new essays. It represents a large-scale collective effort to pierce the veils of myth and propaganda to reveal the true costs of war, above all, the cost to liberty.Central to this volume are the views of Ludwig von Mises on war and foreign policy. Mises argued that war, along with colonialism and imperialism, is the greatest enemy of freedom and prosperity, and that peace throughout the world cannot be achieved until the central governments of the major nations become limited in scope and power. In the spirit of these theorems by Mises, the contributors to this volume consider the costs of war generally and assess specific corrosive effects of major American wars since the Revolution. The first section includes chapters on the theoretical and institutional dimensions of the relationship between war and society, including conscription, infringements on freedom, the military as an engine of social change, war and literature, and the right of citizens to bear arms. The second group includes reconsiderations of Lincoln and Churchill, an analysis of the anti-interventionist idea in American politics, a discussion of the meaning of the -just war, - an assessment of how World War I changed the course of Western civilization, and finally two eyewitness accounts of the true horrors of actual combat by veterans of World War II. The Costs of War is unique in its combination of historical scope and timeliness for current debates about foreign policy and military intervention. It will be of interest to historians, political scientists, economists, and sociologists.

Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes 1963-64


Lyndon B. Johnson - 1997
    Johnson have been unsealed. They are examined in Michael R. Beschloss's Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes, 1963-1964.The only president to record his private conversations from his first day in office, LBJ ordered the tapes to be locked in a vault until at least the year 2023. But that request has been preempted and the tapes unsealed, providing a close-up look at a president taking power in a way we have never seen before, beginning with John F. Kennedy's murder in November 1963 and continuing through Johnson's campaign for a landslide victory. In Taking Charge, Beschloss, whom Newsweek has called "America's leading presidential historian," has transcribed and annotated the secretly recorded tapes, providing historical commentary that allows us to understand fully the people, crises, and controversies that appear on them. Significant events and revelations chronicled in Taking Charge include the aftermath of the Kennedy assassination, including Johnson's conversations with FBI director J. Edgar Hoover about the killing. Although he publicly endorsed the Warren Commission's lone-gunman findings, LBJ privately suspected that President Kennedy was killed by a conspiracy, probably backed by Fidel Castro. As early as the spring of 1964, while he prepared for possible military action in Southeast Asia, LBJ privately expressed doubts that the United States could ever win a land war in Vietnam. Johnson feared, after signing the Civil Rights Act, that blacks, inspired by Communists and the man he called "Muslim X" (Malcolm X), might riot and bring about a national white backlash against civil rights. The Johnson White House tapes provide us with an intimate look at Johnson's complex, changing relationships with Lady Bird and the rest of his family, Jacqueline Kennedy, ex-Presidents Truman and Eisenhower, and members of the White House staff. Taking Charge is not only a unique exploration of a momentous presidency but also a highly personal look at the private man who took office after an American tragedy and led the nation into some of its most tumultuous years.

The Character of Nations: How Politics Makes and Breaks Prosperity, Family, and Civility


Angelo M. Codevilla - 1997
    Codevilla illustrates that as people shape their governments, they shape themselves. Drawing broadly from the depths of history, from the Roman republic to de Tocqueville's America, as well as from personal and scholarly observations of the world in the twentieth century, The Character of Nations reveals remarkable truths about the effects of government on a society's economic arrangements, moral order, sense of family life, and ability to defend itself.Codevilla argues that in present-day America, government has had a profound negative effect on societal norms. It has taught people to seek prosperity through connections with political power; it has fostered the atrophy of civic responsibility; it has waged a Kulturkampf against family and religion; and it has dug a dangerous chasm between those who serve in the military and those who send it in harm's way. Informative and provocative, The Character of Nations shows how the political decisions we make have higher stakes than simply who wins elections.

Politics, Religion and the British Revolutions: The Mind of Samuel Rutherford


John Coffey - 1997
    Its main purpose is to provide a thorough discussion of Rutherford's religious and political ideas, and their role in the ideology of the Scottish Covenanters whose rebellion against Charles I marked the beginning of the British troubles in the mid-seventeenth century. The book also constitutes an important multidisciplinary case study in the Calvinist and Puritan traditions.

The Magical State: Nature, Money, and Modernity in Venezuela


Fernando Coronil - 1997
    Endowed with the power of state oil wealth, successive presidents appeared as transcendent figures who could magically transform Venezuela into a modern nation. During the 1974-78 oil boom, dazzling development projects promised finally to effect this transformation. Yet now the state must struggle to appease its foreign creditors, counter a declining economy, and contain a discontented citizenry. In critical dialogue with contemporary social theory, Fernando Coronil examines key transformations in Venezuela's polity, culture, and economy, recasting theories of development and highlighting the relevance of these processes for other postcolonial nations. The result is a timely and compelling historical ethnography of political power at the cutting edge of interdisciplinary reflections on modernity and the state.

Civic Ideals: Conflicting Visions of Citizenship in U.S. History


Rogers M. Smith - 1997
    citizenship the product of multiple traditions—not only liberalism and republicanism but also white supremacy, Anglo-Saxon supremacy, Protestant supremacy, and male supremacy? In this powerful and disturbing book, Rogers Smith traces political struggles over U.S. citizenship laws from the colonial period through the Progressive era and shows that throughout this time, most adults were legally denied access to full citizenship, including political rights, solely because of their race, ethnicity, or gender. Basic conflicts over these denials have driven political development and civic membership in the U.S., Smith argues. These conflicts are what truly define U.S. civic identity up to this day.Others have claimed that nativist, racist, and sexist traditions have been marginal or that they are purely products of capitalist institutions. In contrast, Smith’s pathbreaking account explains why these traditions have been central to American political and economic life. He shows that in the politics of nation building, principles of democracy and liberty have often failed to foster a sense of shared "peoplehood" and have instead led many Americans to claim that they are a "chosen people," a "master race" or superior culture, with distinctive gender roles. Smith concludes that today the United States is in a period of reaction against the egalitarian civic reforms of the last generation, with nativist, racist, and sexist beliefs regaining influence. He suggests ways that proponents of liberal democracy should alter their view of U.S. citizenship in order to combat these developments more effectively.

Republic, Books 1-2


Plato - 1997
    In Book Two, Socrates and Plato's brothers try to imagine ways of creating the best human life, continuing the exploration of justice and injustice in the individual and in the community.

Conservatism: An Anthology of Social and Political Thought from David Hume to the Present


Jerry Z. Muller - 1997
    No comparable collection that I know of is as broad and unparochial as this one.” — Thomas Pangle, University of TorontoAt a time when the label “conservative” is indiscriminately applied to fundamentalists, populists, libertarians, fascists, and the advocates of one or another orthodoxy, this volume offers a nuanced and historically informed presentation of what is distinctive about conservative social and political thought. It is an anthology with an argument, locating the origins of modern conservatism within the Enlightenment and distinguishing between conservatism and orthodoxy.Bringing together important specimens of European and American conservative social and political analysis from the mid-eighteenth century through our own day, Conservatism demonstrates that while the particular institutions that conservatives have sought to conserve have varied, there are characteristic features of conservative argument that recur over time and across national borders.

The Hidden Welfare State: Tax Expenditures and Social Policy in the United States


Christopher Howard - 1997
    Basing his work on histories of these four tax expenditures, Howard highlights the distinctive characteristics of all such policies. Howard helps the reader to appreciate the historic links between the hidden welfare state and U.S. tax policy, which accentuate the importance of Congress and political parties. He also focuses on the reasons why individuals, businesses, and public officials support tax expenditures. The Hidden Welfare State will appeal to anyone interested in the origins, development, and structure of the American welfare state.

Special Interests: How Lobbyists Influence Legislation


Jules Archer - 1997
    Lobbies have been a part of American history ever since Benjamin Franklin appealed to Britain’s Parliament to remove a tax on stamps in 1757. The right of any person or group to “petition the government for a redress of grievances” was and is protected by the first amendment, remembering the British government’s refusal to listen to the grievances of the American colonists, which brought on the American Revolution. Today, however, many lobbying activities have exceeded the boundaries of Thomas Jefferson’s original good intention and often involve the inappropriate use of money and influence to gain advantages that are not always in the public interest. Although lobbyists have the right to appeal to and advise our legislators, only our elected officials have the right to actually write our laws. Jules Archer has written a broad-reaching description of the lobbying system in America. He describes who lobbyists are and discusses perks, PACS, and pork, and the various other means that lobbyists use to influence legislators, the public, and even the White House.

Global Governance: Drawing Insights from the Environmental Experience


Oran R. Young - 1997
    Whereas the Cold War bred an intense concern with the preservation of existing institutions, the emerging environmental agenda has prompted an awareness of the need for new arrangements to achieve sustainable human/environment relations. Especially notable is the growth of specific regimes to deal with matters such as endangered plants and animals, migratory species, airborne pollutants, marine pollution, hazardous wastes, ozone depletion, and climate change. Nonstate actors have made particularly striking advances in the creation and maintenance of these environmental regimes.T he contributors to this volume draw upon the experiences of environmental regimes to examine the problems of international governance in the absence of a world government. In the process, they address four central questions: Has regime analysis produced a distinctive conception of governance that can be applied to the solution of collective-action problems at the international level? Can we identify the conditions necessary for international governance without government to succeed? Does the emergence of regimes in specific issue areas have broader consequences for the future of international society? Can we generalize from experience with environmental issues to a broader range of international governance problems?ContributorsThomas Bernauer, Lee Botts, Helmut Breitmeier, Paul Muldoon, M. J. Peterson, David Reed, Olav Schram Stokke, Marcia Valiante, Konrad von Moltke, Paul Wapner, Oran R. Young