Preview: We live, as Dr. Barry Asmus points out in this issue, in an age in which brains are replacing BTUs, an age in which technology has brought greater freedom and economic opportunity for all. Its hallmarks are decentralization of authority and vastly improved efficiency, especially in our use and discovery of new resources. The race is on. Economic competition is replacing political confrontation. Dr. Asmus argues that, as global markets open and grow, the opportunities are unlimited. But we must resist socialism's latest manifestation in the West: anti- growth, anti-people radical environmentalism.
An ASCII version form with a very small freeware MSDOS file viewer and print program is available. This ASCII version is formatted for all computer platforms. All textfiles for the year 1992 are now in one ZIP file. The filename is: IO/IMPR92.ZIP.
Preview: Once, radio was called "the treadmill to oblivion." Novelist Larry Woiwode reminds us that television has even greater potential for harm. On campus last February for Hillsdale's Center for Constructive Alternatives seminar, "Freedom, Responsibility and the American Literary Tradition," Woiwode, best-selling author of The Neumiller Stories and other contemporary fiction, vividly described the profound changes wrought by this modern "Cyclops."
An ASCII version form with a very small freeware MSDOS file viewer and print program is available. This ASCII version is formatted for all computer platforms. All textfiles for the year 1992 are now in one ZIP file. The filename is: IO/IMPR92.ZIP.
Preview: Education is the nation's top growth industry. Annual spending on education has increased over 300 percent in less than twenty years. And we are spending five times more on each student than we did fifty years ago. Why, then, are America's schools in crisis? Why have education task forces failed to achieve significant reform?
Polly Williams and J. Patrick Rooney say it's time to stop relying on more money, more task forces, more experts, and more bureaucrats: genuine reform can only be brought about by creating incentives for schools - and therefore students - to succeed, i.e., by introducing competition. Williams and Rooney addressed 350 St. Louis community leaders and educators during the Shavano Institute for National Leadership seminar, "Public/Private Education: Should Parents Be Free to Choose?" on October 16-17, 1991
An ASCII version form with a very small freeware MSDOS file viewer and print program is available. This ASCII version is formatted for all computer platforms. All textfiles for the year 1992 are now in one ZIP file. The filename is: IO/IMPR92.ZIP.
Preview: The year 1992 marks the 50th anniversary of America's entry into World War II, the most titanic struggle in human history. Nearly every nation and every people were involved. When it was over, more than 50 million soldiers and civilians were dead, as were whole nations whose borders would be redrawn in the succeeding era. It came, ironically enough, on the heels of another war, the one that was to be "the war to end all wars." In reality, however, World War I was only a dress rehearsal for a far more cataclysmic event. Here, historian George Nash explains why. His remarks were delivered during the Center for Constructive Alternatives seminar, "America's Entry into World War II," in November 1991.
An ASCII version form with a very small freeware MSDOS file viewer and print program is available. This ASCII version is formatted for all computer platforms. All textfiles for the year 1992 are now in one ZIP file. The filename is: IO/IMPR92.ZIP.
Preview: For today's generation, World War II is ancient history, with little to teach us about how modern life should be faced. Yet as Hillsdale professor John Willson points out in this month's Imprimis, the lessons of World War II are more important than ever. Readers should take note that he is not arguing that the U.S. should have remained isolationist at any price, or that our millions of servicemen and women fought in vain. (Dr. Willson's father served in every theater of the war, incidentally.) Rather, his message is that we must recognize the unavoidable costs of war, especially the cost to our own liberty. His remarks were delivered during a November 1991 Center for Constructive Alternatives seminar on the Hillsdale College campus.
An ASCII version form with a very small freeware MSDOS file viewer and print program is available. This ASCII version is formatted for all computer platforms. All textfiles for the year 1992 are now in one ZIP file. The filename is: IO/IMPR92.ZIP.
Preview: Nearly 10 years ago Imprimis featured a reprint of a 1958 essay called, simply, "I Pencil." We continue to believe that it is one of the finest defenses of the free market ever written and have reprinted it again here.
It is an essay that invites wonder. Wonder at the countless bits of human knowledge and raw materials spontaneously organized by our global market economy in the making of an ordinary wooden pencil. Wonder at what one individual can achieve for millions of his fellow men through a lifetime of dedication to principle. And wonder, most of all, at the everyday miracles made possible by a political and economic system that dares to have faith in free men.
An ASCII version form with a very small freeware MSDOS file viewer and print program is available. This ASCII version is formatted for all computer platforms. All textfiles for the year 1992 are now in one ZIP file. The filename is: IO/IMPR92.ZIP.
Preview: As readers of Profscam and The Hollow Men will know, Charles Sykes has devoted the last several years to investigating firsthand what actually goes on at American colleges and universities. In this Imprimis issue, adapted from his forthcoming book, A Nation of Victims (available in September from St. Martin's Press), he argues that it is not merely political correctness, but "the politics of sensitivity" that has overtaken higher education. Mr. Sykes participated in Hillsdale's Center for Constructive Alternatives February 1992 seminar, "Thought Police on Campus: Is Academic Freedom in Danger?"
An ASCII version form with a very small freeware MSDOS file viewer and print program is available. This ASCII version is formatted for all computer platforms. All textfiles for the year 1992 are now in one ZIP file. The filename is: IO/IMPR92.ZIP.
Preview: At Hillsdale's Center for Constructive Alternatives February 1992 seminar "Thought Police on Campus: Is Academic Freedom in Danger?" author Shelby Steele made an eloquent plea for a return to the ideal of genuine equality and an end to "the politics of difference," which has produced not only a divided campus, but a divided society.
An ASCII version form with a very small freeware MSDOS file viewer and print program is available. This ASCII version is formatted for all computer platforms. All textfiles for the year 1992 are now in one ZIP file. The filename is: IO/IMPR92.ZIP.
Preview: In a series of fascinating personal observations, world-renowned economist Thomas Sowell talks about the failure of central planners and social engineers to improve the lot of blacks in America. He contrasts that failure with the success of blacks who have regarded hard work and determination rather than entitlements and victimhood as the key to getting ahead. He describes a bygone era in Harlem, but makes it clear that the values that inspired this era live on. Dr. Sowell's remarks were delivered during Hillsdale's Shavano Institute for National Leadership 10-year anniversary gala in Colorado Springs this past January.
An ASCII version form with a very small freeware MSDOS file viewer and print program is available. This ASCII version is formatted for all computer platforms. All textfiles for the year 1992 are now in one ZIP file. The filename is: IO/IMPR92.ZIP.
Preview: Why, despite all our efforts to reform Congress, control spending, reduce taxes and pay off the national debt, are we in worse shape than ever? Alan Keyes argues that we have relied too much on politicians and too little on our own initiative.
We need to restore stringent limits on Washington, D.C. Two hundred years ago, the Founders knew that government was a threat to liberty. Prophetically, they warned future generations not to grow too dependent on it.
Ambassador Keyes spoke at Shavano Institute for National Leadership seminars last May in Cincinnati, Ohio and this month in Pebble Beach, California. To order audio or video tapes, please call 1-517-439-1524, ext. 2319.
An ASCII version form with a very small freeware MSDOS file viewer and print program is available. This ASCII version is formatted for all computer platforms. All textfiles for the year 1992 are now in one ZIP file. The filename is: IO/IMPR92.ZIP.
Preview: One of Hillsdale's most popular speakers ever, PBS film critic Michael Medved addressed an audience of over 400 students, faculty and outside guests on campus last March at the Center for Constructive Alternatives seminar, "Culture Wars." In this edited version of his remarks, he notes that in recent decades Hollywood has lost touch with its own audience, and that it has openly attacked the family, religion, traditional values, and genuine heroes. Medved argues persuasively that, goaded by disastrous box office receipts, the industry can be changed, but that we must all get actively involved.
An ASCII version form with a very small freeware MSDOS file viewer and print program is available. This ASCII version is formatted for all computer platforms. All textfiles for the year 1992 are now in one ZIP file. The filename is: IO/IMPR92.ZIP.
Preview: What follows are excerpts from remarks President George Roche prepared for delivery to the Hillsdale College faculty and staff on August 22, 1992. We chose to share these remarks with our Imprimis readers because we believe that they reflect an attitude that stands in sharp contrast to what passes for "educational leadership" on other campuses.
An ASCII version form with a very small freeware MSDOS file viewer and print program is available. This ASCII version is formatted for all computer platforms. All textfiles for the year 1992 are now in one ZIP file. The filename is: IO/IMPR92.ZIP.
Return to Top of Imprimis Online Abstracts Page.