Archiving, Advancing, Protecting
There is little disagreement among political philosophers, democratic theorists or empirical researchers that politics, freedom, society and equality are core principles of liberal democracy. What is highly disputed, however, is the meaning of these democratic principles and the proper relation between them that makes for a good political order. The assumption has always been that there is a trade-off between freedom and equality. ‘Trade-off’ means in this context that both principles cannot be maximized at the same time. Investigations of data from democracies leads to reject the trade-off assumption which has a long tradition Freedom and political as well as economic equality are mutually reinforcing.
There is no evidence of a negative association between freedom on the one hand and equality on the other. The traditional libertarian fear of a trade-off between freedom and equality is unfounded, as we core principles of democracy possess a mutually reinforcing association. Societies and political orders do not have to decide between the two principles but can pursue the maximization of both freedom and equality. This does not mean, of course, that real-world politics cannot pursue one over the other, but any arguments to this end should no longer rest on the claim that the two principles are mutually exclusive in modern democracies. Politics, society, freedom and equality can certainly coexist.
Sophie Lewis of CBS News points out how New York became the sixth state to ban child marriage, after raising the legal age of consent to be married to 18. Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the legislation which will take effect 30 days after becoming law. A previous law Cuomo signed in 2017 allowed...
The Council on Foreign Relations explains how since Fidel Castro’s ascent to power in 1959, U.S.-Cuba ties have endured a nuclear crisis, a long Cuban embargo, and political hostilities. The diplomatic relationship remained frozen well beyond the end of the Cold War but moved toward normalization during the administration of...
Michael Holden and Mitch Phillips of Reuters write how Black players in the England soccer team have been subjected to a storm of online racist abuse after their defeat in the final of Euro 2020, drawing wide condemnation from the squad’s captain, manager, royalty, religious leaders and politicians. Marcus Rashford,...
Jemima McEvoy at Forbes and Paul DeBenedetto at NPR write that citing anonymous sources with knowledge of the situation, both The New York Times and NBC News reported Monday that a group of state lawmakers has made plans to walk out in the middle of a special legislative session ahead of expected votes on...
Devin Rutan is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology and Social Policy at Princeton University. Renee Louis is a research specialist with the Eviction Lab at Princeton University. These researchers demonstrate that eviction is a process with abundant opportunities for violations of the Fair Housing Act making overall housing markets more...
As we wind down Independence Day, many “patriots”, and I use that term loosely, are missing the point. Christine Emba in the Washington Post explains how those whom criticize are exercising the fullest expression of American citizenship. The United States is an idea not based on blood and soil, but...
The Trump Organization and its longtime finance chief, Allen Weisselberg, have been indicted on charges from a years-long investigation by the Manhattan district attorney’s office that has involved prosecutors obtaining former President Trump’s tax returns. Prosecutors allege a 15-year scheme (from 2005 through this year) in which the Trump Organization...
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority on Thursday continued castration a landmark voting rights law in a decision likely to help Republican states fight challenges to voting restrictions they’ve put in place following last year’s elections. In a case from Arizona, the justices upheld two state voting restrictions that limited who...
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania’s threw out Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction opening the way for his immediate release from prison. Cosby, 83, has served nearly three years of a three- to 10-year sentence after being found guilty of drugging and violating Temple University sports administrator Andrea Constand at his...
Some 25 states have already enacted or are considering laws to ban teaching what they call “critical race theory” (“CRT”) in public schools, a concept that school officials around the country deny they even teach. Most academic work never gets noticed at all, yet CRT is being publicly vilified, even...