or to the
PDF version.
At the dawn of a new millennium, America’s quest to overcome the effects of
centuries of racial inequality is on a collision course with its even more
pervasive preoccupation with technology of all kinds, particularly quantifiable
measurements of that all-American social good, “success.” Go
there now.... of to the PDF version.
While campaigning for the presidency, Texas Governor George W. Bush
frequently touted the state’s successful “10 percent plan” as a model of
inclusion and an example of his leadership in education reform. Lani Guinier and
Gerald Torres argue, however, that rather than lead, Bush just got out of the
way. Go there now…or to the PDF version.
For years many of us have called
for a national conversation about what it means to be a multiracial democracy.
We have enumerated the glaring flaws inherent in our winner-take-all form of
voting, which has produced a steady decline in voter participation, under
representation of racial minorities in office, lack of meaningful competition
and choice in most elections and the general failure of politics to mobilize,
inform and inspire half the eligible electorate. Go
there now... or to the PDF version.
CAMBRIDGE,Mass. What began as judicial overreaching may be a clarion call for major
democratic reform. Some legal experts already argue that last week's United
States Supreme Court decision, though heavily criticized for deciding an
election, could help open the local courthouse doors to election reform. Go
there now... or to the PDF version.
On December 12, 2000, in Bush v. Gore, the Supreme
Court selected the next president when, in the name of George Bush's rights to
equal protection of the laws, it stopped the recounting of votes. The Court’s
decision – and the colossal legal fight that preceded it –put the values,
and not just the mechanics, of American democracy front and center. Excoriated
at the time for deciding an election, the Court’s stout reading of equal
protection could nevertheless become an invitation, not just to future
litigation but also to a citizens’ movement for genuine participatory
democracy. At minimum, the Court’s surprising and heavy-handed intervention
should now spark a real debate about the rules of democracy on an even larger
scale than we previously imagined. Go
there now ..... or to the PDF
version.
THE MBTA HAS zero tolerance for laughing. If you are caught laughing out
loud at or near an MBTA stop, you can be arrested and charged with disorderly
conduct. Zero tolerance means no laughing, no running, and not even minding
your own business while waiting for a bus. Go
there now ..... or to the PDF version.
