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The republic's founders debated whether to have a government based
on direct democracy (in which the general population decided public
policy questions, as in a New England town meeting) or
representative democracy (in which those decisions were made by
senators and congressmen on behalf of the general population). A
related issue was whether the general population should have the
"right of instruction" which gave citizens authority to expel from
office government officials who disobeyed the desires of the
population. The right of instruction is now largely forgotten but
in former times was considered so important that it was routinely
included in state constitutions. This book examines the competition
between direct democracy and representative democracy in the United
States, focusing particularly on the doctrine of instruction,
through the lens of the pre-presidential career of Abraham Lincoln.
The people who run our government are affected by money just like
the rest of us. Over the years, many of these officials have
worried about meeting mortgage payments, holding off creditors, and
avoiding bankruptcy. Others made fortunes by devoting their time to
supervising their business interests. Either way, these
distractions affected the lives of everyday citizens--from the
price of shirts to the decisions for war or peace. In school,
students are taught about governmental principles underlying
political controversies, but instructors seldom talk about money
that presidents and cabinet members stood to gain or lose,
depending on who prevailed in a political dispute. This book will
help fill the gaps in that knowledge. To ignore the business
activities of our leaders is to ignore most of their adult lives.
Having such awareness allows voters to see motivations in
government decisions that may otherwise be obscure. Concentrating
on presidents and cabinet members, from the birth of the U.S.
through the Carter administration, this book tells how they and
their associates gained and lost wealth, and how this affected
their nation's well-being.
In this study of Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnamable, Lawrence
Miller traces Beckett's attempt to voice the expressive dilemma
that is posed by the assumptions of modernist art and art
criticism. A preliminary examination of Beckett's critical writings
on literature and painting reveals a growing suspicion of modernist
ambitions; it is the trilogy of novels, however, which represents
Beckett's most sustained rejection of the feasible aspirations of
an expressive theory of art. Still, the goal of expression cannot
be abandoned since it represents the essence of the human
condition; the compulsion inevitably triumphs over the longing to
end.
Who are today's hot rodders? Where do they come from, what do they
value, and why? Do gearheads and old metal have any place in
tomorrow's transportation landscape? What will be left behind? What
will be carried forward? Over an eight year period,
gearhead/geographer David Miller crisscrossed America in his
home-built 1958 Chevy Apache custom truck interviewing hot rodders
who are thoughtful and passionate about what they do, willing to
speculate about why they do it and about what lies ahead. This book
is a collection of their stories and a celebration of how they
roll. It is a testament to what will be lost unless rodders can
defy the trend towards mechanical cluelessness, anonymous vehicle
styling, driverless vehicles, and a "get back in line and wait to
be served" mentality that increasingly permeates our transportation
landscape.
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