Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Advancing human rights, worldwide

Advancing human rights, worldwide
Getty Images

Leland R. Beaumont is an independent wisdom researcher who is seeking real good. He is currently developing the Applied Wisdom curriculum on Wikiversity.

Human rights violations are a direct assault on human dignity. Furthermore, human rights violations are at the root of many of the world’s greatest challenges. These include war, refugee displacements, immigration issues, oppression, torture, jehad, terrorism, poverty, access to education, systemic inequality, endemic diseases, and many more.


Fortunately, a simple solution is available. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides a clear and widely accepted standard for assessing human rights. We can hold Human Rights exhibitions where each country reports their own progress toward achieving the human rights protections described by each of the 30 articles of the declaration. These reports would be judged, and the scores made available. Countries scoring high in some areas can serve as models for others to learn from.

Countries around the world work hard to improve their Olympic sports performances. What if they worked just as hard to improve their human rights protections?

We can advance human rights, worldwide. We can protect human dignity worldwide. We can solve many of the world’s greatest challenges.

This article is a transcript of the YouTube video Advancing Human Rights, Worldwide, written, produced, and directed by Leland R. Beaumont.

Read More

Man wearing Trump hat watches Trump on TV

Trump’s 10-to-1 rule aims to cut red tape, but fewer regulations can mean weaker food safety, Head Start services, and checks on presidential power.

Wu Xiaoling/Xinhua via Getty Images

Trump’s 10-to-1 Rule Gives the Presidency Too Much Power

We only think about the plumbing in our homes when something goes wrong. The same is true for government bureaucracy. Rules, procedures, and bureaucrats operate largely out of sight, making sure food is safe, Social Security checks arrive, workplaces are safe, and children with disabilities receive the services promised to them by law. Yes, there is plenty of red tape in government, just as an old house can accumulate pipes that no longer serve much purpose. But ripping out pipes simply because there are too many of them is not much of a plumbing strategy. Yet the Trump administration has made the number of federal regulations it eliminates a measure of success. That raises a more important question: When does cutting bureaucracy stop making government more efficient and start making it less capable?

1. The Case for Cutting Red Tape

Keep ReadingShow less
US Capitol building
white dome building near body of water during daytime
Photo by José Matute on Unsplash

We The People

On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln concluded the Gettysburg Address with a vision of democracy that has endured for more than a century:

“That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Keep ReadingShow less
The U.S. Capitol in autumn.

New surveys of nearly 20,000 battleground voters find bipartisan majorities say Congress ignores the public, and that more public influence would help.

Philip Yabut/Getty Images

Americans Say the People Can Lead Congress to Common Ground; It Appears They Are Right

New surveys in battleground states and districts across the country, as well as nationwide, find that Americans—both Republicans and Democrats—believe Congress does what most Americans would do less than half the time.

They also found that majorities agree that if Congress were to be more influenced by the people, it would be more likely to find common ground. In fact, surveys show that majorities of Republicans and Democrats agree on what to do about many issues that Congress is stuck on.

Keep ReadingShow less