ILF POST

By Charles Lindblom Might it be possible for a nation–even a nation with a history of freedom and democracy–to reach a parting of the two? Liberty remains, but democracy erodes to extinction? Citizens continue to enjoy their civil liberties, their choices of occupation, and mobility; and they read and speak as they please? But they [...]

By Gloria Feldt Recently, I was asked to say what I think is the biggest health challenge facing women today. That’s a big question, but as I thought about it, the answer boiled down to one simple word. Not easy to solve, but simple to define. Let me begin with an example.

By Harlan Cleveland What I miss these days as an American is a federal government with big ideas — or at least one big idea. In the last quarter of the 20th century, I spent large chunks of my time organizing international think-sessions about the future — that is, the 21st century. During the first [...]

By Douglass Carmichael The standard view is that the country is split between those who want change, the progressives or liberals, and those who want to standstill or go backwards. But the model of change that we are offered by the leadership of both parties, often called neo-liberal economics, has become what Bush means by [...]

By Mary Catherine Bateson Whatever happened to the youthful idealism of the 60s and 70s, and why do students today seem so preoccupied with careerism and their financial futures? One possible answer is that students today know that most of them will be in debt when they graduate.

By Charles Lindblom Like a beautiful, powerful, wild animal in chains, free speech is everywhere constrained, sometimes gently, sometimes put into a coma close to death. Unable to predict, I fear that today’s small children will, in their late years, find only a corpse. The near universal strategy for curbing so dangerous a creature has [...]

By Harlan Cleveland More and more secrets are spilling onto our bookshelves about how the U. S. government started a war in Iraq it didn’t — and still doesn’t — know how to finish. Each decision along the way was taken behind closed doors — based, we now are told, on intelligence some [...]

By Gloria Feldt I recently attended a swishy book party in Los Angeles for Joe Klein and his latest book “Politics Lost: How America’s Democracy Was Trivialized by People Who Think You’re Stupid.” Klein of course is the Time Magazine political columnist who also wrote “Primary Colors”, the thinly disguised hit piece on the Clinton [...]