The American legal system evolves far more slowly than the new technologies that present almost daily challenges to rules framed for a simpler time.
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Category Archives: Academic Papers
Privatization and Social Capital: Unasked Questions
Interestingly, despite a widespread belief that the voluntary sector is an important generator of social capital, no one to date has studied whether the seemingly inexorable growth of government contracting with nonprofit organizations might be contributing to a decline, slowing that decline, or changing the character of the social capital that is produced.
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A Just World at Peace
The tension between peace and justice is an enduring one in human history. The goal of civilized societies is to achieve a just peace; that is, to create institutions that allow citizens to settle even their deepest differences without violence or the disenfranchisement of dissenting voices.
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Privatization and Prayer: The Case of Charitable Choice
In 1996, as part of comprehensive welfare reform legislation, Congress enacted Section 104 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PWORA). That provision, which has subsequently come to be known as “Charitable Choice” was the first of a number of initiatives which have been heralded as a new approach to delivery of government social services: state contracts with “faith-based organizations,” or FBOs.
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Snake Oil, Professional Ethics and the First Amendment
When evidence has rebutted a medical or scientific thesis, it is not only unethical, but arguably fraudulent and thus unprotected by the First Amendment, to present that thesis as if it were untested or supported. Assigning a high value to the free exchange of ideas is not tantamount to valuing all ideas equally
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