15 Years Ago
July 2005
“A principled form of libertarian judicial activism, therefore, is clearly consistent with the basic requirement of a free society: the protection of individual rights against the tyranny of the majority.”
Damon Root
“Unleash the Judges”
“Conservatives are only just learning to mau-mau the media and government with tactics and language on loan from the P.C. left. Liberals, by contrast, have a century’s experience of acting as moral scolds. Progressive Era reformers drew heavily on the pietist Protestant tradition, and their successors have merely continued the secularization of self-righteousness.”
Jesse Walker
“‘Values’ and the Democrats”
20 Years Ago
July 2000
“No one trusts mother and father to know best. Liberals think parents just don’t know enough to understand what’s good for their kids. (As Hillary Clinton once put it, ‘A lot of times they don’t know what is quality.’) Conservatives think parents are deluding themselves to alleviate their guilt—or, worse yet, that they just don’t care enough.”
Cathy Young
“The Mommy Wars”
“Viewers don’t care how big media companies are. They care whether they can dump those they don’t like, whether because of lousy service or because of crummy shows. They want the right to exit—the fundamental right that has been lost in 70 years of ‘public interest’ regulation.”
Virginia Postrel
“Cable Access”
30 Years Ago
July 1990
“Despite decades of misunderstanding and a lack of close ties, Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Straits have begun to work together to bring democracy to the mainland. The continuing repression on the mainland, and the progressive democratization of the Republic of China on Taiwan, have brought many democratic activists to Taiwan. The heads of the major democracy organizations…have all visited Taiwan in recent months. The coming together of the new organizations based in the West and the older political forces in Taiwan and on Hong Kong has created a formidable united front against the Communist regime.”
Steven Mosher
“Dream Deferred”
“Although largely driven by feminist ideology, this redefinition of rape casts women as eternal victims, undermines personal responsibility, and trivializes the very idea of sexual violence. Combined with misleading statistics from weak studies, it fosters unrealistic fear and distrust. Nowhere are the effects of rape revisionism more pronounced than on college campuses.”
Stephanie Gutmann
“‘It Sounds Like I Raped You!'”
40 Years Ago
July 1980
“The transit brokerage concept is a low-cost, effective way to improve urban transportation. By stimulating the private market, it expands the supply of unsubsidized transit. Moreover, unlike the case of costly new subways like [Bay Area Rapid Transit in San Francisco], which attract mostly bus riders, these new paratransit options succeed in luring commuters from their cars. Besides giving taxpayers a break, they accomplish the elusive goals of reducing both congestion and pollution.”
Robert W. Poole Jr.
“Alternative Transit”
“[Ted] Turner’s 24-hour, all-news network was set to begin service on June 1. The Cable News Network (CNN) will provide detailed analytical coverage of breaking news and important issues to an initial audience that could be four million subscribers. The ‘big three’ networks all publicly scoff at the hint of any real threat to their control of the market. But if past performance is any indication of Turner’s entrepreneurial expertise, they may be whistling in the dark. Turner is a producer, and proud of it.”
Patrick Cox
“Cable News Upstart”
45 Years Ago
July 1975
“Those of us concerned about liberty have had good reason of late to be interested in Ronald Reagan. Increasingly, California’s former governor has been turning up in first place among Republican figures in political opinion polls, among Independents as well as Republicans. In addition, in recent months Reagan has taken to using the term ‘libertarian’ (or ‘libertarian-conservative’) to describe his political philosophy. All of which naturally made us interested in taking a closer look at the man and his ideas.”
“Reason Interview: Inside Ronald Reagan”
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