Champions of a Free Society
Champions of a Free Society

Author: Edward Wayne Younkins

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2008-08-25

Total Pages: 407

ISBN-13: 0739130536

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This book is constructed around great thinkers of the past and present who have been influential in developing the philosophy of freedom. Its main purpose is to provide a survey and overview of the ideas of leading individual philosophers and economists of capitalism who have contributed to developing what might be called the classical liberal or libertarian worldview. Champions of a Free Society endeavors to provide a guide to political and economic thinking about the desirability and construction of a free society that is intelligible to the educated layperson. Edward Younkins provides an historical perspective of the pursuit of political and economic truth. The goal of this book is to present the development of ideas in language that permits generally educated readers to understand and appreciate their significance. The book's chronological approach considers the thinkers and their ideas as they have developed over the course of time. There is much unfulfilled illuminative potential to be found in the ideas of the past and Younkins successfully integrates the ideas of past and current thinkers into a logical contemporary worldview.

A Declaration and Constitution for a Free Society
A Declaration and Constitution for a Free Society

Author: Brian P. Simpson

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2021-03-09

Total Pages: 323

ISBN-13: 1793612218

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What are individual rights? What is freedom? How are they related to each other? Why are they so crucial to human life? How do you protect them? These are some of the questions that A Declaration and Constitution for a Free Society answers. The book uses Objectivist philosophy—the philosophy of Ayn Rand—to analyze subjective, intrinsic, and objective theories of rights and show why rights and freedom are objective necessities of human life. This knowledge is then used to make changes to the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution. Through these changes, the book shows the fundamental legal requirements of a free society and why we should create such a society. It demonstrates why a free society is morally, politically, and economically beneficial to human beings.

Simple Rules for a Complex World
Simple Rules for a Complex World

Author: Richard Allen EPSTEIN

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2009-06-30

Total Pages: 377

ISBN-13: 0674036565

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Too many laws, too many lawyers--that's the necessary consequence of a complex society, or so conventional wisdom has it. Countless pundits insist that any call for legal simplification smacks of nostalgia, sentimentality, or naivete. But the conventional view, the noted legal scholar Richard Epstein tells us, has it exactly backward. The richer texture of modern society allows for more individual freedom and choice. And it allows us to organize a comprehensive legal order capable of meeting the technological and social challenges of today on the basis of just six core principles. In this book, Epstein demonstrates how. The first four rules, which regulate human interactions in ordinary social life, concern the autonomy of the individual, property, contract, and tort. Taken together these rules establish and protect consistent entitlements over all resources, both human and natural. These rules are backstopped by two more rules that permit forced exchanges on payment of just compensation when private or public necessity so dictates. Epstein then uses these six building blocks to clarify many intractable problems in the modern legal landscape. His discussion of employment contracts explains the hidden virtues of contracts at will and exposes the crippling weaknesses of laws regarding collective bargaining, unjust dismissal, employer discrimination, and comparable worth. And his analysis shows how laws governing liability for products and professional services, corporate transactions, and environmental protection have generated unnecessary social strife and economic dislocation by violating these basic principles. Simple Rules for a Complex World offers a sophisticated agenda for comprehensive social reform that undoes much of the mischief of the modern regulatory state. At a time when most Americans have come to distrust and fear government at all levels, Epstein shows how a consistent application of economic and political theory allows us to steer a middle path between too much and too little.

Defending the Free Market
Defending the Free Market

Author: Robert Sirico

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2012-05-21

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 1596988118

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Thirty years ago, the economic system of the Soviet empire—socialism—seemed definitively discredited. Today, the most popular figures in the Democratic Party embrace it, while the shapers of public opinion treat capitalism as morally indefensible. Is there a moral case for capitalism? Consumerism is an appalling spectacle. Free markets may be efficient, but are they fair? Aren’t there some things that we can’t afford to leave to the vicissitudes of the market? Robert Sirico, a onetime leftist, shows how a free economy—including private property, legally enforceable contracts, and prices and interest rates freely agreed to by the parties to a transaction—is the best way to meet society’s material needs. In fact, the free market has lifted millions out of dire poverty—far more people than state welfare or private charity has ever rescued from want. But efficiency isn’t its only virtue. Economic freedom is indispensable for the other freedoms we prize. And it’s not true that it makes things more important than people—just the reverse. Only if we have economic rights can we protect ourselves from government encroachment into the most private areas of our lives—including our consciences. Defending the Free Market is a powerful vindication of capitalism and a timely warning for a generation flirting with disaster.

Development as Freedom
Development as Freedom

Author: Amartya Sen

Publisher: Anchor

Published: 2011-05-25

Total Pages: 385

ISBN-13: 030787429X

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By the winner of the 1988 Nobel Prize in Economics, an essential and paradigm-altering framework for understanding economic development--for both rich and poor--in the twenty-first century. Freedom, Sen argues, is both the end and most efficient means of sustaining economic life and the key to securing the general welfare of the world's entire population. Releasing the idea of individual freedom from association with any particular historical, intellectual, political, or religious tradition, Sen clearly demonstrates its current applicability and possibilities. In the new global economy, where, despite unprecedented increases in overall opulence, the contemporary world denies elementary freedoms to vast numbers--perhaps even the majority of people--he concludes, it is still possible to practically and optimistically restain a sense of social accountability. Development as Freedom is essential reading.

Government Is Good
Government Is Good

Author: Douglas J. Amy

Publisher: Dog Ear Publishing

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 1457506580

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Why a book defending government? Because for decades, right-wing forces in this country have engaged in a relentless and irresponsible campaign of vicious government bashing. Conservatives and libertarians have demonized government, attacked basic safety net programs like Medicare, and undermined vital regulations that protect consumers, investors, workers, and the environment. This book takes on this anti-government movement and shows that most of its criticisms of this institution are highly exaggerated, misleading, or just plain wrong. In reality, American government - despite its flaws - plays a valuable and indispensable role in promoting the public good. Most government programs are working well and are actually improving the lives of Americans in innumerable ways. Democratic government is a vital tool for making our world a better place; and if we want an America that is prosperous, healthy, secure, well-educated, just, compassionate, and unpolluted, we need a strong, active, and well-funded public sector. Part I: Why Government is Good. The section of the book describes how government acts as a force for good in society. One chapter chronicles a day in the life of an average middle-class American and identifies the myriad ways that government programs improve our lives. Other chapters describe the forgotten achievements of government; how government is the only way to effectively promote public values like justice and equality; and how a free market economy would be impossible without the elaborate legal and regulatory infrastructure provided by government. Part II: The War on Government. This section of the book chronicles the unrelenting assault on government being waged by conservative forces in this country. Chapters describe how cuts in social programs and rollbacks of regulations have harmed the health, safety, and welfare of millions of Americans and how these assaults have taken place on many fronts - in Congress, the administrative branch, and the federal courts, as well as on the state and local level. Also addressed: how the right's radical anti-government agenda is out of touch with the views and priorities of most Americans, and what the real truth is about government deficits. Part III: How to Revitalize Democracy and Government. There are, in fact, some problems with American government, and we need to address these if we are to restore Americans' faith in this institution. One of the main problems with our government is that it is not accountable and responsive enough to the public. Moneyed special interests too often win out over the public interest. Chapters in this section describe this problem and how we can fix it. There are several reforms - including public financing of elections - that could help our government live up to its democratic ideals. The final chapter discusses strategies for building a pro-government coalition in this country.

The Anti-capitalist Chronicles
The Anti-capitalist Chronicles

Author: David Harvey

Publisher: Red Letter

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780745342085

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A new book from one of the most cited authors in the humanities and social sciences

Leading Systems
Leading Systems

Author: Barry Oshry

Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 9781576750728

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Accessible, full of real-life examples, and beautifully written by a pioneer in systems thinking A systems framework based not on hopes and dreams but on thirty years of research on what systems really are Speaks to leadership in the family, community, organization, and nation For over thirty years, Barry Oshry has uncovered core truths about how we operate in large organizations through the Power Lab, an experiential program that has been called "The World Series of Leadership Development Activities." In Leading Systems, Oshry reveals the lessons he has derived from his Power Lab experiences-experiences that have been central to his innovative insights about human systems and system leadership. Oshry maintains that the next evolutionary challenge for human beings is to recognize ourselves as system creatures, see how system processes shape our experiences, and develop the knowledge and skills to master these processes rather than be victims of them. Drawing on his Power Lab experiences, he reveals the possibilities of systems leadership and how effective leadership can provide the basis for creating sane, healthy, effective social systems. Challenging conventional thinking, Oshry shows the limitations of consensus, the importance of unilateral action, and the restrictions that our values-such as egalitarianism, liberalism, conservatism-can place on power. He reveals how the problems we often believe are personal or peculiar to our system or circumstances are in factsystemic, limiting the possibilities of both individuals and the system as a whole-and he demonstrates what it takes to break out and elevate ourselves and our systems to higher levels of possibility. Perhaps most importantly, Oshry shares his experience in discovering what he calls "exhilarating concepts," and shows how these concepts offer unusual insights into the nature of systems, shedding light on everything from organizational dysfunction to the conflicts that occur along lines of race,gender, sexual orientation, and ethnicity. It is only through this deep knowledge, Oshry says, that system leaders can elevate their systems to those higher levels of possibility to which we aspire. Offering new directions, Leading Systems is essential reading for anyone who wants a deep understanding of how systems work and how to exert enlightened leadership.

The Liberty Option
The Liberty Option

Author: Tibor R. Machan

Publisher: Andrews UK Limited

Published: 2012-07-30

Total Pages: 136

ISBN-13: 1845403622

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The Liberty Option advances the idea that for compelling moral as well as practical reasons it is the free society - with the rule of law founded on the principles of private property rights, its complete respect for individual sovereignty and properly limited legal authorities - not one or another version of statism that serves justice best, is most prosperous and encourages the greatest measure of individual virtue on the part of the citizenry. The work shows why this is so and lays out some of the most crucial implications of the idea. While the book presents a principled approach to politics, it is firmly grounded in the best and most up to date understanding of human community life and history as well as many of its complications, challenges, adversities and prospects.