in America has seemed almost like a re- prise of the Boston Tea Party.
More than the people of most nations, Americans generally have chosen to rely on the most painful forms of taxation (e.g., di- rect levies on property and income), keep- ing the tribute rendered "unto Caesar" at the forefront of public attention. Not only have Americans remained deeply un-friendly to the taxman, but our debates over taxation have been vehicles for defin- ing larger conflicts-between regions and classes,...
Jude Wanniski in The Way the World Works (Simon & Schuster, rev. ed., 1983), an ambitious "supply side" re- interpretation of history in terms of taxation and economic principles.
"What made the Industrial Revolution and the Pax Britannica possible," Wanniski argues, with an eye on contemporary American poli- tics, "was the audacity of the British Parlia- ment," which ignored the experts' dire warnings about the growing national debt in 18 15, after the defeat...
the National Research Council.
Of the familiar "three R's," reading and writing have aroused the most concern in today's debates over school re- form. Yet "numeracy" is no less important than literacy, notes the U.S. National Re- search Council (NRC).
"No longer just the language of science, mathematics now contributes in direct and fun- damental ways to business, fi-nance, health, and defense."
Yet, from elementary schools to universities, today's dismal mathematics...
During the 1920s, H. L. Mencken was the voice of the educated and sophisticated throughout America. His criticism of Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover...
Before I am charged with unfair labeling, let me make clear that I am talking not about ancient Greece but 20th-century Brazil. The Corinthians under discussion rarely, if ever, travel by boat, and this particular Socrates, while given to philosophizing, is a popular soccer player.
RU~
A. Teixeira, in Public OW-ion (Jan./Feb. 1989), 1150 17th St. N.W., Washington, D.C.
After Election Day 1988, the Reverend Jesse Jackson declared that Governor Mi- chael Dukakis could have triumphed a "margin of enthusiasm" if only he had in- spired poor and minority voters to go to the polls in greater numbers.
Similar sentiments were voiced by many Democrats after George Bush's 54-46 per- cent victory. And, at first glance, says Teixeira, a public opinion specialist at Abt Associates, t...
Michael Nelson, in PS: Politi- cal Science and Politics (Fall 1988), 1527 New Hampshire Ave. the Better N.w., Washington, D.C. 20036.
Nineteenth-century Americans would have been astonished last summer's uproar over Dan Quayle's nomination for vice president. Ironically, says Nelson, a Van- derbilt political scientist, the Quayle con- troversy highlights a dramatic improve- ment in the way vice presidential candidates are chosen.
Early in the nation's history, when, by law, the runner-up in every...
Richard A. Brody and Catherine R. Shapiro, in PoliticalThe President Behavior Annual (Volume 2), Westview Press, 5500 Central
Ave., Boulder, Colo. 8030 1.
Scholars and politicians have long cited the "rally around the flag" effect: thanks to patriotic sentiment, public approval of the president always goes up in times of inter- national crisis.
Not so, say Brody and Shapiro, of Stan- ford University. Such grassroots support is "far from automatic." In some cases, the president...
Richard A. Brody and Catherine R. Shapiro, in PoliticalThe President Behavior Annual (Volume 2), Westview Press, 5500 Central
Ave., Boulder, Colo. 8030 1.
Scholars and politicians have long cited the "rally around the flag" effect: thanks to patriotic sentiment, public approval of the president always goes up in times of inter- national crisis.
Not so, say Brody and Shapiro, of Stan- ford University. Such grassroots support is "far from automatic." In some cases, the president...
the turn of the century, the "gross regional product" of these nations will equal that of North America.
Meanwhile, to "contain" the Soviets, the United States keeps 330,000 military per- sonnel, nearly half its Navy ships, and sev- eral Air Force fighter wings in or near East Asia. The annual cost: some $50 billion, or 18 percent of the Pentagon budget.
Trying to cope with altered economic realities of the U.S.-Asian relationship, Washington has pressed Japan and other Asian...