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Problems in American Democracy is a very detailed, specific explanation of some of the underlying and surface problems of a democracy system of government, particularly of the American form of democracy. Though lengthy, it is a great read for people who want to learn more about different types of government and the foundations of our own government in the United States of America. (Summary by Allyson Hester)...

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Politics

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Through the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) this series of communications has been de-classified and made public. Most names have been omitted, however much information of the sightings of UFOs in 1947 can be gleaned from these communications which were primarily between the FBI and other U.S. Government and military organizations. It should be noted that the U.S. Air Force only became a separate entity in 1947, having split from the U.S. Army at that time. And they became very busy times for the fledgling military organization. The slant of this de-classified material is chiefly written communications between the FBI and the military machine in 1947. Correspondence herein spans July and August of 1947 which will forever remain as the beginning of serious first-hand UFO experience in the annals of history. (Introduction by Roger Melin)...

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Politics

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The National Gambling Impact Study Commission was given the task of conducting a comprehensive legal and factual study on the social and economic implications of gambling in the United States. This report presents the principal findings of that work and recommendations for action. (Summary from the Introduction, modified by Sam Stinson)...

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Politics

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The Prime Minister is the fifth in Trollope's series of six Palliser novels. With Phineas' difficulties resolved, Trollope introduces new characters. A respectable young girl forsakes the man her family had always intended her to marry when she falls in love with a man of foreign extraction and an unknown family. He has a gentleman's education and manners, but his family background and financial means are mysterious. Is he really a gentleman? Meanwhile, Plantagenet Palliser becomes Prime Minister of a shaky coalition government, and Glencora and Madame Goessler are busy with the ensuing social obligations. (Summary by Karen Merline)...

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Historical Fiction, Politics, Romance

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Voltairine de Cleyre (1866–1912) was, according to Emma Goldman, the most gifted and brilliant anarchist woman America ever produced. Today she is not widely known as a consequence of her short life. De Cleyre was especially influenced by Thomas Paine, Mary Wollstonecraft and Clarence Darrow. After the hanging of the Haymarket protesters in 1887, she became an anarchist. Till then I believed in the essential justice of the American law of trial by jury, she wrote in an autobiographical essay, After that I never could. She was known as an excellent speaker and writer – in the opinion of biographer Paul Avrich, she was a greater literary talent than any other American anarchist – and as a tireless advocate for the anarchist cause, whose religious zeal, according to Goldman, stamped everything she did. (Wikipedia)...

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Philosophy, Politics, Literature

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Jeremy Bentham's Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation , a classic text in modern philosophy and jurisprudence, first published in 1789, focuses on the principle of utility and how this view of morality ties into legislative practices. Bentham's ambition in life was to create a complete Utilitarian code of law. The philosophy of utilitarianism argues that the right act or policy is that which would cause the greatest good for the greatest number of people, also known as the greatest happiness principle, or the principle of utility. Bentham's principle of utility regards good as that which produces the greatest amount of pleasure, and the minimum amount of pain; and evil as that which produces the most pain without the pleasure. This concept of pleasure and pain is defined by Bentham as physical as well as spiritual. Bentham writes about this principle as it manifests itself within the legislation of a society. He lays down a set of criteria for measuring the extent of pain or pleasure that a certain decision will create. Bentham argues that certain unnecessary laws and punishments could ultimately lead to new and ...

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Philosophy, Politics

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The Commentaries on the Laws of England are an influential 18th century treatise on the common law of England by Sir William Blackstone, originally published by the Clarendon Press at Oxford, 1765-1769.The Commentaries were long regarded as the leading work on the development of English law and played a role in the development of the American legal system. They were in fact the first methodical treatise on the common law suitable for a lay readership since at least the Middle Ages. The common law of England has relied on precedent more than statute and codifications and has been far less amenable than the civil law, developed from the Roman law, to the needs of a treatise. The Commentaries were influential largely because they were in fact readable, and because they met a need. The work is as much an apologia for the legal system of the time as it is an explanation; even when the law was obscure, Blackstone sought to make it seem rational, just, and inevitable that things should be how they were. (Summary from Wikipedia.)...

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Philosophy, Politics

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“Bahaism is not a new religion,” writes Hippolyte Dreyfus-Barney, “It is religion renewed… it does not pretend to represent the whole Truth; on the contrary, it recognises Truth in fundamental principles which are the basis of all former dispensations, and which for that very reason form the standpoint of concord too long lost sight of. And it requires people to renounce ancient superstitions, to abandon the dead letter in order to be penetrated by the living and vivifying spirit, then by that very means it confirms the original purity of their religion, whilst helping them to know and love everything profoundly beautiful in the others… it will suffice for me to indicate that the Bahais believe that from all eternity God has raised up among human creatures higher beings who have inculcated mankind with the great moral principles on which societies are founded, and have thus been the supreme guides of its evolution.” Hippolyte Dreyfus earned his doctorate in law in February 1898 and became the first French Bahá’í in 1901. In 1903 he gave up his legal career to devote himself to oriental studies. He enrolled at the École pratique des ...

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Religion, Politics

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In What Prohibition Has Done to America , Fabian Franklin presents a concise but forceful argument against the Eighteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Beginning in 1920, this Amendment prohibited the sale and manufacture of alcoholic beverages in the United States, until it was repealed in 1933. Franklin contends that the Amendment is not only a crime against the Constitution of the United States, and not only a crime against the whole spirit of our Federal system, but a crime against the first principles of rational government. Writing only two years after Prohibition began, he correctly predicts many of its disastrous consequences, such as runaway bootlegging and organized crime. The book is both a passionate defense of liberty, and a reminder to Americans of the perils of surrendering it. (Summary by Leon Mire)...

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Politics, History

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The Two Treatises of Civil Government is a work of political philosophy published anonymously in 1689 by John Locke. The First Treatise is an extended attack on Sir Robert Filmer's Patriarcha , which argued for a divinely-ordained, hereditary, absolute monarchy. The more influential Second Treatise outlines a theory of civil society based on natural rights and contract theory. Locke begins by describing the state of nature, and goes on to explain the hypothetical rise of property and civilization, asserting that the only legitimate governments are those which have the consent of the people. Locke's ideas heavily influenced both the American and French Revolutions. His notions of people's rights and the role of civil government provided strong support for the intellectual movements of both revolutions. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia)...

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Philosophy, Politics, Religion

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The Social Contract outlines Rousseau's views on political justice, explaining how a just and legitimate state is to be founded, organized and administered. Rousseau sets forth, in his characteristically brazen and iconoclastic manner, the case for direct democracy, while simultaneously casting every other form of government as illegitimate and tantamount to slavery. Often hailed as a revolutionary document which sparked the French Revolution, The Social Contract serves both to inculcate dissatisfaction with actually-existing governments and to allow its readers to envision and desire a radically different form of political and social organization. (Summary by Eric Jonas)...

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Philosophy, Politics

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Noli Me Tangere (Latin for Touch Me Not) is a novel by the National Hero of the Philippines, Dr. José Rizal. It was originally written in Spanish, and first published in Germany in 1887. Noli Me Tangere exposed the corruption and abuse of the Spanish government and clergy towards the Philippine people and the ills of the Philippine society. This novel, and its sequel El Filibusterismo were banned in many parts of the Islands. Rizal was later arrested for inciting rebellion, based largely on his writings, and was excuted in Manila. Noli Me Tangere, and the execution of Rizal, indirectly influenced the Philippine revolution from Spain. Today, Noli Me Tangere is required reading in all Philippine Schools. (Summary by JoeD)...

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Literature, Politics

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Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. He was a political radical and a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law. He is best known as an early advocate of utilitarianism and animal rights who influenced the development of liberalism. The essay Offences Against One's Self (c. 1785), argued for the liberalisation of laws prohibiting homosexuality. The essay remained unpublished during Bentham's lifetime for fear of offending public morality. It was finally published for the first time in 1931. (Wikipedia) This recording was catalogued on 28th July 2007, the 40th anniversary of the coming into force in the UK of the Sexual Offences Act 1967, which decriminalised male homosexuality for the first time (though with restrictions)....

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Philosophy, Politics

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Excerpt: To the People of the State of New York: After an unequivocal experience of the inefficacy of the subsisting federal government, you are called upon to deliberate on a new Constitution for the United States of America. The subject speaks its own importance; comprehending in its consequences nothing less than the existence of the union, the safety and welfare of the parts of which it is composed, the fate of an empire in many respects the most interesting in the world. It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force....

Table of Contents Details
Contents FEDERALIST. No. 1................................................................................................................................................................... 6 FEDERALIST No. 2 ................................................................................................................................................................... 9 FEDERALIST No. 3 ................................................................................................................................................................. 13 FEDERALIST No. 4 ................................................................................................................................................................. 16 FEDERALIST No. 5 ................................................................................................................................................................. 20 FEDERALIST No. 6 ................................................................................................................................................................. 23 FEDERALIST. No. 7.................................

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Preface: Those who have done me the honor of reading my previous writings will probably receive no strong impression of novelty from the present volume; for the principles are those to which I have been working up during the greater part of my life, and most of the practical suggestions have been anticipated by others or by myself. There is novelty, however....

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Contents Preface ........................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Chapter I To What Extent Forms of Government are a Matter of Choice ............................................................. 5 Chapter II The Criterion of a Good Form of Government .................................................................................... 15 Chapter III That the ideally best Form of Government is Representative Government .................................... 34 Chapter IV Under what Social Conditions Representative Government is Inapplicable ................................... 51 Chapter V Of the Proper Functions of Representative Bodies............................................................................... 61 Chapter VI Of the Infirmities and Dangers to which Representative Government is Liable ............................. 76 Chapter VII Of True and False Democracy; Representation of All, and Representation of the Majority only 92 Chapter VIII Of the Extension of the Suffrage ...............................

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Brooks Adams (1848- 1927), was an American historian and a critic of capitalism. He believed that commercial civilizations rise and fall in predictable cycles. First, masses of people draw together in large population centers and engage in commercial activities. As their desire for wealth grows, they discard spiritual and creative values. Their greed leads to distrust and dishonesty, and eventually the society crumbles. In The Law of Civilisation and Decay (1895), Adams noted that as new population centers emerged in the west, centers of world trade shifted from Constantinople to Venice to Amsterdam to London. He predicted in America’s Economic Supremacy (1900) that New York would become the centre for world trade. The Theory of Social Revolutions was written in 1913. (Wikipedia)...

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Politics, History

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In Books 3 and 4 of Leviathan , Thomas Hobbes elaborates on the political philosophy set forth in the first two books, by considering the nature of a Christian commonwealth. Book 3 begins with a wealth of biblical scholarship, directed at establishing the authority of Scripture while at the same time undermining modern claims to supernatural revelation that would subvert civil law. Hobbes concludes that we cannot be sure of anyone else's divine revelation, and that religious authority is therefore subordinate to civil power. Book 4, titled “Of the Kingdom of Darkness,” sets forth the various ways in which Scripture has been misinterpreted by the church, according to Hobbes, in mixing pagan elements with Christianity. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia by Leon Mire)...

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Philosophy, Politics, Religion

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Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil, commonly called Leviathan, is a book written in 1651 by Thomas Hobbes. It is titled after the biblical Leviathan. The book concerns the structure of society (as represented figuratively by the frontispiece, showing the state giant made up of individuals), as is evidenced by the full title. In the book, Thomas Hobbes argues for a social contract and rule by a sovereign. Influenced by the English Civil War, Hobbes wrote that chaos or civil war - situations identified with a state of nature and the famous motto Bellum omnium contra omnes (the war of all against all) - could only be averted by strong central government. He thus denied any right of rebellion toward the social contract. However, Hobbes did discuss the possible dissolution of the State. Since the social contract was made to institute a state that would provide for the peace and defense of the people, the contract would become void as soon as the government no longer protected its citizens. By virtue of this fact, man would automatically return to the state of nature until a new contract...

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Philosophy, Politics

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The Inquiry into the Role and Oversight of Private Security Contractors in Afghanistan, which reported in September 2010, was precipitated by events in August 2008, when US forces bombed the Afghan village of Azizabad. This gave rise to a public dispute between the US Government and the United Nations about the level of fatalities caused by the attack and about whether those killed had been civilians or Taliban-linked insurgents. Allegations soon emerged that the attack had been based on false information deliberately fed to the US military by Afghan employees of ArmorGroup, a private security contractor, and that these employees were engaged in murder and anti-coalition activities. A key local contact of ArmorGroup, who they dubbed Mr Pink, was subsequently convicted of espionage and sentenced to death, but was later freed....

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History, Politics

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ivil Disobedience (Resistance to Civil Government) is an essay by American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849. In it, Thoreau argues that individuals should not permit governments to overrule or atrophy their consciences, and that they have a duty to avoid allowing such acquiescence to enable the government to make them the agents of injustice. Thoreau was motivated in part by his disgust with slavery and the Mexican–American War....

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Philosophy, Politics

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The Subjection of Women is the title of an essay written by John Stuart Mill in 1869, possibly jointly with his wife Harriet Taylor Mill, stating an argument in favor of equality between the sexes. It offers both detailed argumentation and passionate eloquence in opposition to the social and legal inequalities commonly imposed upon women by a patriarchal culture. Just as in On Liberty, Mill defends the emancipation of women on utilitarian grounds, convinced that the moral and intellectual advancement of women would result in greater happiness for everybody. (Summary from Wikipedia)...

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Philosophy, Politics

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Capital, Volume I is the first of three volumes in Karl Marx’s monumental work, Das Kapital, and the only volume to be published during his lifetime, in 1867. Marx’s aim in Capital, Volume I is to uncover and explain the laws specific to the capitalist mode of production and of the class struggles rooted in these capitalist social relations of production. Marx said himself that his aim was “to bring a science [i.e. political economy] by criticism to the point where it can be dialectically represented”, and in this way to “reveal the law of motion of modern society”. By showing how capitalist development was the precursor of a new, socialist mode of production, he aimed to provide a scientific foundation for the modern labour movement. In preparation for his book, he studied the economic literature available in his time for a period of twelve years, mainly in the British Museum in London.(Summary by Wikipedia)...

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Philosophy, Politics, Economics/Political Economy

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This book is all about the fictional country called Utopia. It is a country with an ‘ideal’ form of communism, in which everything really does belong to everybody, everyone does the work they want to, and everyone is alright with that. This country uses gold for chamber pots and prison chains, pearls and diamonds for children’s playthings, and requires that a man and a woman see each other exactly as they are, naked, before getting married. This book gave the word 'utopia' the meaning of a perfect society, while the Greek word actually means ‘no place’. Enjoy listening to this story about a country that really is too good to be true. (Summary by Jenilee.)...

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Philosophy, Politics

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Excerpt: Reprinted from Fraser?s Magazine. The cloud which for the space of a month hung gloomily over the civilized world, black with far worse evils than those of simple war, has passed from over our heads without bursting. The fear has not been realized, that the only two first-rate Powers who are also free nations would take to tearing each other in pieces, both the one and the other in a bad and odious cause. For while, on the American side, the war would have been one of reckless persistency in wrong, on ours it would have been a war in alliance with, and, to practical purposes, in defence and propagation of, slavery. We had, indeed, been wronged....