The Public Interest articles from January 1994

The Public Interest archives from January 1994

How much does global warming matter? (concern for environmental problems as opposed to needs of developing countries)
January 1, 1994... MORE THAN A BILLION people in developing countries have no access to safe drinking water, and at least twice that many have no access to adequate sanitation. Consequently, between 1 and 1.5 billion people suffer from water-related diseases such...

The school choice fiasco. (proposition for government coverage for attendance in any school of personal choice)
January 1, 1994... ON NOVEMBER 2, 1993, California residents voted on Proposition 174, a state initiative that would have provided pupils with "scholarships" (vouchers worth at least $2500) that could be applied to the cost of attending any private school. The...

At the VA, it pays to be sick. (Department of Veterans Affairs)
January 1, 1994... SHOULD WE encourage veterans with psychiatric problems to remain ill? Should we encourage them to undergo unnecessary hospitalization? And, for those already hospitalized, should we encourage longer hospital stays than necessary? Surely most...

In praise of censorship. (government and the arts)
January 1, 1994... THE DAY AFTER he was asked for his resignation, John Frohnmayer assembled his staff at the National Endowment for the Arts and spoke of the attacks on the agency as an "eclipse of the soul." A month later, his tone grew even more ominous, as he...

A better way to tax. (consumed income tax)
January 1, 1994... IN THE SUMMER OF 1992, Senators Pete Domenici (R-NM) and Sam Nunn (D-GA) decided to move beyond the short-term tinkering that usually dominates congressional debate over taxation. The senators reached onto the academic shelf and pulled down an...

Passing the generational buck. (government policy for children)
January 1, 1994... IN THIS ARTICLE we will investigate the U.S. government's treatment of children. We will begin with a look at the flow of transfer payments to children, and then consider the government services purchased on their behalf. We will also consider...

The seeds of urban revival. (policies for Urban America)
January 1, 1994... NO MATTER WHAT the measurement--unemployment, welfare rates, crime, infant mortality, out-of-wedlock births, school achievement, homelessness, substance abuse--the condition of urban America, at least in the older cities, has worsened...

Love and Friendship.
January 1, 1994... IN THE FINAL LINES of Love and Friendship,(*) Allan Bloom tells the story of a lecture at which students unveiled a banner declaring "Great Sex is better than Great Books." Bloom's response: "Sure, but you can't have one without the other." To be...

The Culture of Disbelief.
January 1, 1994... STEPHEN CARTER, the Cromwell Professor of Law at Yale University, is one of the more interesting new voices in the legal academy. In a stream of articles, essays, and reviews over the last decade, Mr. Carter has addressed with insight and verve a...

Democracy and the Problem of Free Speech.
January 1, 1994... THE WORLD HAS never had a good definition of liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in need of one." What Abraham Lincoln said in 1864 about liberty in general can be said today about liberty or (in the words of the First Amendment)...