As we segregate by income into different communities, schools in lower-income areas have fewer resources than ever.
Robert ReichRead
Freedom is the one value conservatives place above all others, yet time and again, their ideal of freedom ignores the growing imbalance of power in our society that's eroding the freedoms of most people.
Interpretation
This quote critiques the selective interpretation of freedom by conservatives, highlighting its inconsistency with social power dynamics.
Robert Reich's quote emphasizes that while conservatives may champion freedom as their foremost value, this ideal often overlooks the power imbalances that exist within society. He argues that such disparities undermine the freedoms and opportunities for the majority, suggesting that a true understanding of freedom must consider the equity of power among all individuals.
In practice
In a political debate focusing on civil rights and freedoms.
As we segregate by income into different communities, schools in lower-income areas have fewer resources than ever.
What are called 'public schools' in many of America's wealthy communities aren't really 'public' at all. In effect, they're private schools, whose tuition is hidden away in the purchase price of upscale homes there, and in the corresponding property taxes.
What someone is paid has little or no relationship to what their work is worth to society.
Tax laws favor capital over labor, giving capital gains a lower rate than ordinary income. The rich get humongous mortgage interest deductions while renters get no deduction at all.
The dirty little secret is that both houses of Congress are irrelevant. ... America's domestic policy is now being run by Alan Greenspan and the Federal Reserve, and America's foreign policy is now being run by the International Monetary Fund [IMF]. ...when the president decides to go to war, he no longer needs a declaration of war from Congress.
You can't inspire people if you are going to be uninspiring.
His face is livid, gaunt his whole body, his breath is green with gall; his tongue drips poison.
Used to the conditions of a capitalistic environment, the average American takes it for granted that every year business makes something new and better accessible to him. Looking backward upon the years of his own life, he realizes that many implements that were totally unknown in the days of his youth and many others which at that time could be enjoyed only by a small minority are now standard equipment of almost every household.
Sin cannot tear you away from him [Christ] even though you commit adultery a hundred times a day and commit as many murders.
Conservative evangelicals don't want government support for our faith, because we believe God created all consciences free and a state-coerced act of worship isn't acceptable to God. Moreover, we believe the gospel isn't in need of state endorsement or assistance. Wall Street may need government bailouts but the Damascus Road never does.
Freedom is a state of mind, I said wondering where I'd heard it before, not a state of being. We are all slaves to gravity and morality and the vicissitudes of nature. Our genes govern us much more than we'd like to think. Our bodies can not know absolute freedom but our minds can, can at least try.
If we do an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, we will be a blind and toothless nation.
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