Taking sides : Clashing views on political issues / selected, edited and with introductions by George McKenna and Stanley Feingold.

Unit 1. Democracy and the American political system -- issue 1. Should Americans believe in a unique American "mission"? -- Yes : First things (from The founding of nations, March 2006) / Wilfred M. McClay -- No : The power and the glory : myths of American exceptionalism, (Boston Review, Summer 2005) / Howard Zinn -- 2. Does the Tea Party represent a revival of America's revolutionary ideals? -- Yes : Give us liberty : a Tea Party manifesto (HarperCollins, 2010) / Dick Armey and Matt Kibbe -- No : The whites of their eyes : the Tea Party's revolution and the battle over American history (Princeton Univ. Press, 2010) / Jill Lepore -- 3. Is bigger government better government? -- Yes : The case for big government (Princeton Univ. Press, 2008) / Jeff Madrick -- No : Saving freedom (Fidelis, 2009) / Jim DeMint -- 4. Should America adopt public financing of political campaigns? -- Yes : Selling out : how big corporate money buys elections, rams through legislation, and betrays our democracy (from Change for good, HarperCollins, 2005) / Mark Green -- No : Taxpayer financing of campaigns (from Welfare for politicians? Taxpayer financing of campaigns, Cato Inst., 2005) / John Samples.

Unit 2. The institutions of government -- 5. Does the president have unilateral war powers? -- Yes : Memorandum opinion for the Deputy Counsel to the President (September 25, 2001) / John C. Yoo -- No : The "imperial presidency" triumphant (in Executing the Constitution, SUNY, 2006) / Michael Cairo -- 6. Should the courts seek the "original meaning" of the Constitution? -- Yes : Constitutional interpretation (2005) / Antonin Scalia -- No : Active liberty : interpreting our democratic Constitution (Knopf/Vintage 2005) / Stephen Breyer -- 7. Is Congress a dysfunctional institution? -- Yes : What happens when Congress fails to do its job? (Newsweek, March 27, 2010) / Ezra Klein -- No : Public criticism of congress (How Congress works, Indiana Univ. Pr., 2004) / Lee H. Hamilton -- 8. May Congress require people to buy health insurance? -- Yes : Order denying plaintiff's motion (Thomas More Law Center v. Obama, October 7, 2010 / George Caram Steeh -- No : Memorandum opinion (Virginia v. Sebelius, December 13, 2010) / Henry Hudson -- 9. Should the president be allowed "executive privileges"? -- Yes : Pro (in Debating the presidency : conflicting perspectives on the American Executive, CQ Press, 2006) / Mark J. Rozell -- No : Con (in Debating the presidency : conflicting perspectives on the American Executive, CQ Press, 2006) / David Gray Adler.

Unit 3. Social change and public policy -- 10. Does affirmative action advance racial equality? -- Yes : The anatomy of racial inequality (Harvard Univ. Pr., 2002) / Glenn c. Loury -- No : Affirmative action can't be mended (in Toward liberty : the idea that is changing the world, Cato Inst., 2002) / Walter E. Williams -- 11. Should abortion be restricted? -- Yes : God's reasons (The clash of orthodoxies : law, religion, and morality in crisis, ISI Books, 2001) / Robert P. George -- No : A moral choice (The Atlantic Monthly, March 1990) / Mary Gordon -- 12. Is the welfare state obsolete? -- Yes : Beyond the Welfare State (National Affairs, Spring, 2011) / Yuval Levin -- No : Wealth & welfare states : is America a laggard or leader? (Oxford Univ. Pr., 2010) / Irwin Garfinkel, Lee Rainwater, and Timothy Smeeding -- 13. Are Americans overtaxed? -- Yes : Seven myths about taxing the rich (Backgrounder, The American Heritage Foundation, August 3, 2009) / Curtis S. Dubay -- No : If we decided to tax the rich (from Sharing the pie : a citizen's guide to wealth and power, Holt Paperbacks, 1998) / Steve Brouwer -- 14. Is America becoming more unequal? -- Yes : testimony before the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections of the House Committee on Education and Labor (July 31, 2008) / Robert Greenstein -- No : The new wealth of nations (Commentary, October 1997) / Christopher DeMuth -- 15. Should same-sex marriage be a Constitutional right? -- Yes : The conservative case for gay marriage : why same-sex marriage is an American value (The Daily Beast, January 8, 2010) / Theodore B. Olson -- No : Gay marriage and marriage (Commentary, November 2003) / Sam Shulman -- 16. Should there be a "wall of separation" between church and state? -- Yes : Dissenting opinion in Van Orden v. Perry, 545 U.S. 677 (June 27, 2005) / John Paul Stevens -- Dissenting opinion in McCreary County, et al., v. American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, et al., 545 U.S. 844 (June 27, 2005) -- 17. Do corporations have the same free speech rights as persons? -- Yes : Opinion of the Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010) / Anthony Kennedy -- No : Dissenting opinion in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010) / John Paul Stevens -- 18. Should "recreational" drugs be legalized? -- Yes : Drug policy, criminal justice, and mass imprisonment (from paper presented to the Global Commission on Drug Policies, January 2011) / Bryan Stevenson -- Don't legalize drugs (City Journal, Spring 1997) / Theodore Dalrymple.

Unit 4. America and the world -- 19. Is indefinite detention of suspected terrorists justified? -- Yes : Long-term terrorist detention and a U.S. National Security Court (Legislating the war on terror : an agenda for reform, Brookings Inst. Press, 2009) -- No : Legal, moral and national security consequences of 'prolonged detention' (Subcommittee on the Constitution of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, June 9. 2009) / Sarah H. Cleveland -- 20. Do we need to curb global warming? -- Case closed : the debate about global warming is over (Issues in Governance Studies, June 2006) / Gregg Easterbrook -- No : Climate of corruption : politics and power behind the global warming hoax (Greenleaf Book Group, 2011) / Larry Bell -- 21. Is warrantless wiretapping ever justified to protect national security? -- Yes : How to 'connect the dots' (National Review, January 30, 2006) -- No : Restoring the rule of law (from a speech presented to the American Constitution society for Law and Policy and the Liberty Coalition, January 15.2006) / Al Gore -- 22. Are entitlement programs creating a culture of dependency? -- Yes : the rise of entitlements in modern America, 1960-2010 (Templeton Press, October 2012) / Nicholas Eberstadt -- No : Have we become 'a nation of takers'? (Templeton Pr., 2012) / William a. Galston -- 23. Should the United States launch a preemptive strike against Iran? -- Yes : Time to attack Iran (Foreign Affairs, January, February 2012) -- No : Not time to attack Iran (Foreign Affairs, March, April 2012) / Colin H. Kahl.