Prisoners’ Rights in China  

In the fall of 1992, the information office of China’s State Council issued a lengthy white paper entitled Criminal Reform in China. The document is filled with sweeping pronouncements buttressed by statistics on China’s penal system: the number of prisoners …



Notes on Cam P.  

1. She’s loud! She’s angry! She’s on a speed trip! She’s an egomaniac! She wears red lipstick! She interrupts! She’s a dirty fighter! She calls names! She’s on her twenty-first minute of fame! She defends Woody Allen! She loves her …





Written by Candlelight  

There is a powerful current in English political writing that is simultaneously radical and traditional. It is radical because harshly critical of the revolutionary impact of capitalism on the everyday life of the common people. It is traditional because it …



Remaking Our Economy  

Across the political spectrum, there is an absence of serious and persuasive ideas for reviving and rebuilding the U.S. economy. Bill Clinton’s advocacy of extensive federal investment in infrastructure, training, and education is a vast improvement over anything else on …





Race and Foster Care  

The headlines of the nation’s newspapers, from New York to Washington to Los Angeles, blare out the same message: “D.C. Foster Care Workers Tell of Horrors,” “Foster Care System Reeling,” “Troubled Children Flood Ill-Prepared Foster Care System.” The nation’s foster-care …



Putting the Middle Class First  

Minutes before President Clinton delivered his major economic address to Congress, the television camera panned to Hillary Rodham Clinton in the gallery. Flanking her were Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, and John Sculley, CEO of Apple Computer. The …





Health Insurance in Canada  

The American debate about health insurance, Canada’s version (called somewhat confusingly “Medicare” and so referred to in this article) is often cited by supporters and opponents alike. Pennsylvania Senator Harris Wofford won election in part on his promise to introduce …



Where Will Clinton Go?  

At bottom, the euphoria with which the public has welcomed Bill Clinton to Washington—and which, if the polls are right, has substantially survived his rocky first few weeks—is a euphoria at the reinvention of government. Euphoria just that a government …







Embracing Socialism  

Recent history has not been kind to the ideas of “socialism” and “tradition.” The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union— “the only existing socialism” according to some friends and foes alike—seems to make socialism an …



What We Need in Health Care  

It is clear that President Clinton will submit a health care reform package to Congress. It even seems clear that something labeled health care reform will be enacted. What is not clear is what that something will look like. The …