Ryan and Liberal Welfare-State Amnesia
Jonathan S. Tobin , Commentary
What’s at stake is an attempt to reinstate the old shibboleths that were the foundation of the liberal welfare state that was buried when President Bill Clinton said the era of big government was over and then signed a historic welfare reform act into law.
Uniform Rule May Keep Religious Americans From Military Service
NPR
People who observe religions that require specific hair or dress traditions have to seek an accommodation from a superior to break the Defense Department’s uniform requirements.
Why Finland’s Educational Model Is More Conservative Than Ours
Gracy Olmstead, The American Conservative
As part of a series of educational reforms in the 1970s and ’80s, Finland “shook the classrooms free from the last vestiges of top-down regulation,” wrote Smithsonian Magazine contributor LynNell Hancock in September 2011.
Volunteerism in America Hits a 10-Year Low
Collette Caprara, The Foundry
This decline in civic engagement puzzled some commentators who noted that the downward trend wasn’t related to the greying of America, since the only age cohort with an increase in volunteering was the over-60 group. Nor was it connected to shorter periods of free time in an improved labor market, given that employed workers consistently volunteer at higher rates than unemployed peers.
