Freedom And Reform

Essays selected by Hubert Bonner and others. cf. Pref."In a sense a sequel to ... [the author's] Ethics of competition, published, in 1935"--Pref. Freedom as fact and criterion.- Social science and the political trend.- Pragmatism and social action.- Ethics and economic reform.- Socialism: the nature of the problem.- Religion and ethics in modern civilization.- The meaning of democracy: its politico-economic structure and ideals.- Science, philosophy, and social procedure.- Fact and value in social science.- Some notes on the economic interpretation of history.- The rights of man and natural law.- Human nature and world democracy.- Economics, political science, and education.- The painful act: the possibilities and limitations of collective rationality.- The sickness of liberal society.

Although freedom is America's core value, few Americans have a clear idea of what it means or - worse - enjoy much freedom in any of its conventional meanings. Drawing from republican tradition, the book critiques the contemporary American value of freedom as it appears in politics, the economy, and culture.

The progressive economics writer redefines the national conversation about American freedom “Mike Konczal [is] one of our most powerful advocates of financial reform‚ [a] heroic critic of austerity‚ and a huge resource for progressives.”—Paul Krugman Health insurance, student loan debt, retirement security, child care, work-life balance, access to home ownership—these are the issues driving America’s current political debates. And they are all linked, as this brilliant and timely book reveals, by a single question: should we allow the free market to determine our lives? In the tradition of Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine, noted economic commentator Mike Konczal answers this question with a resounding no. Freedom from the Market blends passionate political argument and a bold new take on American history to reveal that, from the earliest days of the republic, Americans have defined freedom as what we keep free from the control of the market. With chapters on the history of the Homestead Act and land ownership, the eight-hour work day and free time, social insurance and Social Security, World War II day cares, Medicare and desegregation, free public colleges, intellectual property, and the public corporation, Konczal shows how citizens have fought to ensure that everyone has access to the conditions that make us free. At a time when millions of Americans—and more and more politicians—are questioning the unregulated free market, Freedom from the Market offers a new narrative, and new intellectual ammunition, for the fight that lies ahead.

This is the first comprehensive study of how different ethical traditions deal with the central moral problems of international affairs. Using the organizing concept of a tradition, it shows that ethics offers many different languages for moral debate rather than a set of unified doctrines. Each chapter describes the central concepts, premises, vocabulary, and history of a particular tradition and explains how that tradition has dealt with a set of recurring ethical issues in international relations. Such issues include national self-determination, the use of force in armed intervention or nuclear deterrence, and global distributive justice.

Ironic Freedom asserts that freedom from governmental interference may make people vulnerable to other sources of coercion; these affects vary by gender, race, and class. Increasing negative freedoms may reinforce existing asymmetrical power relationships within society.