Anthropology / Sociology at EOU

Resources for Anth/Soc 407 Capstone








 

Resources specific to:

 

TABOR

Why focus on TABOR (The Taxpayer Bill of Rights movement)?

One of the persistent problems we face as members of human societies is how to ensure shared responsibility for the health and future of our communities and of the people who live in them. Different cultures have solved this problem differently, with uneven success. Parents tell us to play fair and to share our toys. Religious leaders have exhorted us to be generous, especially to those in need, and to be committed to “community.” Some modern (19 th century) philosophers took a more negative view and described the human condition as a “war of all against all.” The important philosophical issue here is the tension between the “rights” of the individual and the “needs” of the community. Pragmatically, the “welfare state” has been one response to this tension.

By the 20 th century, and especially following WWII, western liberal democracies described themselves as “welfare states” – committed to humanitarian values to the extent of providing minimal resources for the “welfare” of all. However, rather than a commitment of all citizens to provide for the needs of the community, this provision has often been seen as a “handout” from “successful” people to those who have failed to achieve in the social system. Critics find this model dreadfully inadequate, since power remains reserved for those “successful” people, and the “handouts” can be withdrawn “with the stroke of a pen” from those deemed “unworthy.” Further, critics argue that intervening in individuals’ lives during a crisis period is far from providing for the “general welfare.”

Today, analysts of the welfare state see increasing reluctance by citizens to provide even minimal support for “failed” individuals—what we know as “welfare,” and the “Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act” of 1996 spells out that reluctance in detail. Apparently it is “sink or swim” –and under your own power. The Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) folks approach the problem from the “supply side,” arguing that the ordinary citizen can no longer afford to fund “the welfare state”—and should not be expected to want to do so. Their mantra states that “Less government is good government.” Anti-tax activists seldom address dimensions of the “welfare state” that have little to do with “failed individuals” such as the support of public education, unemployment insurance, social security, roads and bridges, and basic services such as clean air and water.

Consider this project if you are curious about why anti-tax initiatives are so popular right now. Consider this project if you wonder about the role of outside “moral entrepreneurs”—those who “sell” a particular view of what should be done, and attempt to influence legislatures in many states of the need for TABOR. Consider this project if you are interested in exploring the tension between the rights of the individual and the needs of the community. Those of you who have taken social welfare courses should have plenty to say!

 

DARFUR

 

OUR STRESSED OCEANS

 

IRAQ

This stuff should get you started ...

 

SOME GENERAL RESOURCES (For doing detective work (e.g., looking up organizations, identifying corporate 'front groups,' checking 'experts' credibility):

  • Sourcewatch (watchdog of the public relations industry, good for looking up 'experts' and who funds them)
  • Corpwatch (watchdog of corporate misbehavors)
  • Media Transparency (good for identifying the funding sources of a variety of think tanks and organizations)
  • Wikipedia (this is not a social science site, but is a good open source site to pick up some leads or sources)
 
 
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