Public Policy Class

Here’s my tentative outline with reading assignments. I had to drop a lot of topics to fit it in the allotted time:

1.The American Context: Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America . (Selections to be handed out.)
2. Our Demographic Crisis: Philip Longman, “Missing Children”; James C. Capretta, “The Demographics of Social Security”; Ted C. Fishman, Shock of Gray , chapters 2 and 10. (These will be handed out.)
3. Big Government is the American Way: Jeff Madrick, The Case for Big Government
4. Big Government is the Unsustainable American Drift: William Voegeli, Never Enough ; Yuval Levin, “Beyond the Welfare State” (This will take two weeks and the Levin will be handed out.)
5. Government and Happiness: Derek Bok, The Politics of Happiness , chapters 4-9; Marc De Vos, “Saving Happiness from Politics”; William Schambra, “The Saviors of the Constitution” (These will be handed out.)
6. Public Intellectuals and Public Policy: Columns by Ross Douthat and Paul Krugman to be selected later. Paul Johnson, Intellectuals , concluding chapter. (These will be handed out.)
7. Our Increasingly Virtual Techno-Reality: Sherry Turkle, Alone Together , selections to be announced; Patrick Deneen, “Technology, Culture, and Virtue.” (The latter will be handed out.)
8. Our Biotechnological Future: Chapters by Silver, Green, Bailey, Kass, Sherlock, and Arnhart in Sutton, ed. (This will take two weeks.)
9. Environmentalism: Selections from Roger Scruton, Green Philosophy and David Owen, Green Metropolis . (These will be handed out.)
10. Immigration: Samuel Huntington, Who Are We? , chapters 8-10 and other readings to be announced. (These will be handed out.)
11. Higher Education: Selections from Charles Murray, Real Education ; Hacker and Dreifus, Higher Education ?; William Mathie, “Socrates in America”; Peter Augustine Lawler, “Human Dignity and Higher Education Today.” (These will be handed out.)