Endnotes for Opinion Propositions
1 U.S. Department of Education, What Democracy Means to Ninth-Graders: U.S. Results from the International IEA Civic Education Study (2001); http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/2001096.pdf. For example, this survey asked students a similar question: “Should the United States be proud of what it has achieved?”
2 The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, Pew Hispanic Center Immigration Poll, February 2006; http://people-press.org/report/274/americas-immigration-quandary. “Most people who want to get ahead can make it if they’re willing to work hard.”
3 The American National Election Studies (ANES; www.electionstudies.org). The ANES 2008 Time Series Study, Stanford University and the University of Michigan (producers). “Do you think this country would be better off if we just stayed home and did not concern ourselves with problems in other parts of the world, or do you think that this country would be better off trying to solve some problems in other parts of the world?”
4 Ibid., “Do you think there are any important differences in what the Republicans and Democrats stand for?”
5 Harvard University President Drew Faust’s Installation Address (2007) suggested the proposition “Educators should instill more doubt in students and reject certainty.” According to President Faust, “Truth is an aspiration, not a possession. Yet in this we—and all universities defined by the spirit of debate and free inquiry—challenge and even threaten those who would embrace unquestioned certainties. We must commit ourselves to the uncomfortable position of doubt, to the humility of always believing there is more to know, more to teach, more to understand.”
6 Gallup Poll, June 5 – July 6, 2008; http://www.gallup.com/poll/1660/Immigration.aspx. “In your view, should immigration be kept at its present level, increased, or decreased?”
7 The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, Abortion and Rights of Terror Suspects Top Court Issues, August 2005; http://people-press.org/report/253/abortion-and-rights-of-terror-suspects-top-court-issues.
8 Ibid.
9 The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, Political Communications Study, December 2007; http://people-press.org/report/384/internets-broader-role-in-campaign-2008. “Thinking about the news media in general, to what extent do you see political bias in news coverage?”
10 Gallup Poll, May 11, 2008; http://www.gallup.com/poll/1690/Religion.aspx. “Which of the following statements comes closest to describing your views about the Bible—the Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for word; the Bible is the inspired word of God but not everything in it should be taken literally; or the Bible is an ancient book of fables, legends, history, and moral precepts recorded by man?”
11 The proposition “Religion provides indispensable support for self-government,” paraphrases an excerpt from George Washington’s Farewell Address of 1796: “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”
12 The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, General Public Science Survey, May 2009; http://people-press.org/reports/questionnaires/528.pdf. “In your opinion, generally do you think science and religion are often in conflict or science and religion are mostly compatible?”
13 For the proposition “Prosperity depends upon entrepreneurs and free markets,” see Israel M. Kirzner, “Entrepreneurial Discovery and the Competitive Market Process,” Journal of Economic Literature, March 1997, pp. 60–85.
14 For the proposition “Taxing the rich to help the poor reduces work and investment,” see Rebecca Blank, “The 1996 Welfare Reform,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 11, Winter 1997b, pp. 169–77.
15 The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, Beyond Red vs. Blue: Republicans Divided About Role of Government; Democrats by Social and Personal Values, May 2005; http://people-press.org/reports/pdf/242.pdf. “Government regulation of business usually does more harm than good.”
16 For the proposition “Government must act to curb global warming,” see Al Gore, Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit (1993).
17 For the proposition, “Profit accrues to those organizations that help people,” see Adam Smith, An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776).
18 The timely issue of whether “the free market brings about full employment” has been a significant part of economic literature. See Jean-Baptiste Say, A Treatise on Political Economy (1834), and John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (1936).
19 For the proposition “Raising the minimum wage decreases employment,” see Dan Fuller and Doris Geide-Stevenson, “Consensus Among Economists: Revisited,” Journal of Economic Education, Fall 2003, http://www.jstor.org/pss/30042564.
20 For the proposition “Local zoning laws improve communities,” see Alfred Marshall’s discussion of externalities in Principles of Economics (1920).
