Key takeaways:

• Recent Democratic proposals to exempt broad swaths of the middle class from federal income taxes accept a damaging frame of taxes as a pure drain on affordability.
• But taxes aren’t a drain on affordability; they fund the public services and social insurance programs that make a decent life possible for middle-class families.
• Progressive taxes on the ultrarich and corporations are essential and should be the immediate priority, but they cannot sustain the public sector alone, let alone expand it in ways needed.
• Middle-class tax rates have fallen by a third since 1979, yet economic anxiety remains high. Tax-cutting has failed because it has left the private-sector drivers of inequality untouched and starved public services.

For decades, anti-tax politicians have tried to smuggle in large tax cuts for the ultrarich and corporations by loudly offering tax cut crumbs to the middle class. Key to this effort has been framing taxes as a pure drain on typical families’ ability to afford a secure economic life. Any success in this dishonest campaign to foster anti-tax sentiment is a disaster for working people—and that’s why some recent tax policy ideas from Democrats and the rhetoric around them are so deflating.

Two things are true about taxes in the United States. First, taxes on the richest families and corporations are far too low. Second, it is broad-based taxes on the middle-class that are the foundation of a functioning public sector and a decent society.

Progressive taxes on the ultrarich and corporations are mostly needed to reduce the potential gains to the rich and powerful from rigging the rules of markets. When the powerful rig these rules and hugely disproportionate shares of income concentrate at the top—like in the United States today—progressive taxes can also raise significant revenue.

But if sharply progressive taxes succeed in reducing the incentive for rigging the rules of markets and if other policies help lead to more broadly shared income growth in the country, this means that progressive taxes will raise a lot less revenue over time.

To be clear, this would be a victory for a better society. For example, the purpose of a carbon tax is to lower greenhouse gas emissions and if it’s highly successful, it will by definition stop raising much revenue. Progressive taxes aimed at reducing inequality will see the revenue they raise start to decline when they are their most successful. Right now, we do have deep inequality in the U.S. and progressive taxes will raise a lot of money—but we shouldn’t make the public sector’s resources dependent on this remaining true forever.

But more importantly, taxing only the very rich has never been the primary foundation of public-sector resources and can’t be going forward. The revenue needed to support programs that provide social insurance and income support (Social Security and Medicaid, for example), as well as public investment and services like highways, transit, and public education requires broad-based taxation. Without Social Security providing secure retirement, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act providing access to health care, and public schools providing universal education, a decent life for the middle-class would be entirely unaffordable. And without middle-class taxes supporting all of these things, they would collapse.

If typical Americans lose faith that paying broad-based taxes to support public services and investments is a good deal, it will be a disaster for their ability to afford a decent life. Sadly, some recent Democratic proposals capitulate to this view of taxes as a “pure burden” rather than an investment in the country and its people.

Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) have both floated ideas that would draw a line below which nobody would pay any federal income tax (Van Hollen’s line is $92,000 for a married couple while Booker’s is $75,000). Both proposals pay for this with tax increases on the rich. If these tax increases on the rich were standalone pieces of legislation, they’d be excellent. But they are instead paired with tax benefits that mostly miss the bottom of the income distribution. In Booker’s proposal, the gains from the higher standard deduction that zeroes out taxes for many are actually largest for families between the 60th and 80th percentiles, and gains persist on average through the 99th percentile. Van Hollen’s bill phases out the “alternative maximum tax” that zeroes out taxes for many, and the biggest gains hit in the middle of the income distribution, but the proposal still provides gains on average for families between the 60th and 80th percentiles.

Both proposals clearly aim to address the affordability challenge that politicians have seized on, but in doing so both frame taxes as a pure drain on affordability, with Booker even calling his the “Keep Your Pay Act.” But taxes aren’t a drain on affordability. They provide the resources needed to run the public sector, and the public sector in turn does a great deal to make life more secure and more affordable over people’s lifetimes.

Social Security and Medicare, for example, both rely on payroll taxes on workers’ wages. But they also provide income for these workers in retirement. Instead of draining affordability, these programs smooth income over the lifecycle to ensure working families can afford a decent life even when they can no longer work. Food stamps and Medicaid are financed by taxes and provide benefits to people who otherwise would not be able to afford the most basic necessities: food and health care. The same people who receive Medicaid and food stamps in one era of their lives will contribute to them through taxes in other periods when they have found steady work. Again, the taxes collected are recycled back into families’ incomes in ways that minimize suffering and severe affordability crises throughout their lives.

State and local taxes—often borne quite heavily by the broad middle class—pay for public education. This education—both K–12 and higher education—is incredibly valuable and necessary for anyone operating in modern economies. Without the taxes to support education, families would have to dig into their own pockets to pay for private schooling, and it would be delivered less efficiently and much less equitably.

Other taxes finance infrastructure and other key public goods and services, without which life would be harder and more expensive for most families.

Cutting taxes even fails on the crass political grounds of buying voters’ short-term goodwill. It’s often underrecognized (mostly, again, because of conservative campaigns to hide this fact), but taxes for the middle class have been cut a lot in recent decades. Figure A below shows the percentage point change in tax rates of households at different parts of the income distribution between 1979–2019. We stop at 2019 to compare equivalent points of the business cycle. Tax rates tend to fall sharply during recessions, which can obscure the full extent of legislative changes to tax rates. Further, cutting taxes temporarily during recessions can make some sense—tax cuts are one form of fiscal stimulus that can be used to fight recessions (unless these tax cuts are quite well-targeted on low- and moderate-income families, they tend to be less efficient stimulus than spending measures).

Figure A

The largest tax cuts have gone to the bottom fifth of households—a key policy victory of recent decades. The expansion of refundable tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit—credits that are paid directly to lower-income families even if their amount is greater than the families’ tax liability—have essentially made the problem of taxing families into poverty almost nonexistent. These tax cuts should clearly be kept. But all households, not just those with very low incomes, have seen sizable tax cuts. Tax rates for households in the middle of the income distribution have been cut by a third since 1979.

And yet, does anybody feel like this tax-cutting has led to most U.S. households feeling great about their place in the economy and their prospects for affording a decent life today? Do these voters express warm feelings about the policymakers from both parties who provided these middle-class tax cuts?

The tax-cutting strategy has failed to make these households happy for two reasons. First, it leaves the private-sector drivers of inequality untouched, and as governments have collected less in taxes, employers and corporations have contributed less to middle-class families’ wages. Second, lower taxes have starved public-sector capacity and led to a degradation of public services. Strangely, the newly fashionable “abundance” movement often frames this degradation as a problem of public-sector excesses, but it’s clearly driven by disinvestment. In short, middle-class families value public services and the decades-long campaign to cut taxes has harmed the ability to provide them. The lessons for today’s tax debates should be clear.

The failure of tax-cutting to foster economic security and happiness is not all that surprising for scholars of U.S. attitudes toward taxes, who argue that Americans are not universally anti-tax. Instead, Americans view paying taxes as a patriotic good and a moral obligation. But they are angry about paying their taxes when they think others are shirking their part of the social contract, particularly when they think the richest people and corporations aren’t paying their fair share.

Because we are starting with such high levels of inequality and because of this public cynicism about the rich ever being forced to pay their fair share, the first priority—by far—for policymakers today should be to enact significant stand-alone tax increases on the ultrarich and corporations. The revenue raised solely from the ultrarich could close today’s fiscal gap, the difference between today’s budget deficits and what is needed to put them on a sustainable path going forward. And this act would convince the rest of Americans that the ultrarich are not always prioritized in policymaking and would make future debates about the costs and benefits of higher taxes for higher levels of public goods much healthier.

But we can’t run a decent society based on just taxing the rich and telling everybody else that taxes are an unfair drain. Oliver Wendell Holmes famously said that taxes are the price you pay for civilization. But if the taxes are paid only by the rich, we will get the civilization they want. That doesn’t seem good enough to me.

Socrates’ trial, documented extensively, involved accusations of impiety and corrupting youth; his defense and subsequent execution profoundly impacted Western thought and ethics․

Historical Context of Ancient Athens

Ancient Athens, during the 5th century BCE, was a vibrant yet turbulent democracy․ This period, following the Persian Wars, witnessed a golden age of philosophical and artistic flourishing, but also political instability and social unrest․ The Peloponnesian War with Sparta deeply divided Athenian society, fostering an atmosphere of suspicion and questioning of traditional values․

Socrates lived amidst these shifting sands, challenging conventional norms through his relentless questioning․ Athenian democracy, while innovative, was susceptible to the influence of popular opinion and demagoguery․ The trial of Socrates occurred within this complex political landscape, reflecting anxieties about authority, tradition, and the very foundations of Athenian society․ Understanding this context is crucial for interpreting the events surrounding his condemnation․

The Charges Against Socrates: Impiety and Corrupting the Youth

Socrates faced two primary accusations: asebeia (impiety) – disrespect for the city’s gods – and corrupting the youth․ Meletus, Anytus, and Lycon formally brought these charges, alleging Socrates introduced new deities and influenced young Athenians to question established beliefs․ This was particularly sensitive in a society valuing tradition and religious observance․

The charge of corrupting the youth stemmed from Socrates’ association with individuals later deemed problematic by the Athenian state․ Critics argued his philosophical inquiries undermined civic virtue and loyalty․ These accusations, though debated, tapped into existing anxieties about social order and the influence of radical thought within Athenian society, ultimately leading to his trial․

The Accusation and Initial Defense

Formal accusations by Meletus, Anytus, and Lycon initiated Socrates’ trial; his initial defense centered on challenging the validity of these claims and seeking truth․

The Role of Meletus, Anytus, and Lycon

Meletus, a young and relatively unknown Athenian citizen, formally initiated the charges against Socrates, alleging impiety – disrespect for the city’s gods – and corrupting the youth․ Anytus, a prominent and wealthy politician with a history of opposing democratic reforms, likely held a personal grudge against Socrates due to his critical questioning of Athenian society and its leaders․ Lycon, a rhetorician and father of a student who had associated with Socrates, added his name to the accusation, potentially motivated by concerns about his son’s influence․

These three individuals represented different facets of Athenian society and their combined accusation presented a formidable challenge to Socrates, ultimately leading to his trial and condemnation․

Socrates’ Apology: A Defense Speech

Socrates’ Apology, as recounted by Plato, isn’t a plea for mercy but a robust defense of his philosophical life․ He vehemently denies the charges, asserting his commitment to truth and virtue․ Socrates explains his “divine sign,” an inner voice guiding him away from wrongdoing, and clarifies his method of questioning – elenchus – aimed at exposing ignorance and prompting self-examination․

He argues that a good life is a virtuous life, and that fearing death is foolish, as it’s an unknown state․ His speech isn’t about escaping punishment, but about upholding philosophical integrity․

Key Arguments in Socrates’ Defense

Socrates’ central defense rests on his assertion that he is pursuing truth and fulfilling a divine mission, as ordained by the oracle at Delphi․ He contends that his questioning, though irritating to some, is a service to Athens, prompting citizens to examine their beliefs․ He refutes the charge of corrupting the youth, arguing he improves them through critical thinking․

Furthermore, Socrates highlights his poverty and lack of political ambition, demonstrating he isn’t motivated by personal gain․ He insists that a life unexamined is not worth living, and his philosophical pursuit is paramount․

The Athenian Jury and the Trial Process

The Athenian jury, composed of hundreds of citizens, decided Socrates’ fate through a public vote; the process lacked formal rules of evidence and procedure․

Composition and Selection of the Jury

The Athenian jury for Socrates’ trial was remarkably large, typically consisting of between 201 and 501 citizens․ These jurors weren’t professional legal experts, but ordinary male citizens selected by lot – a process of random drawing – from a pool of eligible Athenians․ This pool was drawn from the dēmos, the body of all citizens․

Jurors were expected to be at least thirty years old and had to meet certain citizenship requirements․ There was no requirement for legal training or expertise․ The sheer number of jurors aimed to prevent bribery and ensure a representative sample of the Athenian populace․ This system, while intended to be democratic, also meant the jury lacked specialized knowledge of law or rhetoric, potentially influencing the outcome․

The Voting Procedure and Outcome

Following the speeches from both the prosecution and Socrates’ defense, the Athenian jury engaged in a two-stage voting process․ First, they deliberated on the question of guilt or innocence․ This was done through secret ballot, with jurors dropping stones into separate urns – one for ‘guilty’ and one for ‘not guilty․’

If a majority voted for guilt, a second vote determined the penalty․ Socrates’ accusers proposed death, and the jury then voted on whether to accept this or suggest an alternative punishment․ Ultimately, Socrates was found guilty by a narrow margin, and the jury, swayed by the prosecution, voted for the death penalty․

Socrates’ Reaction to the Verdict

Upon receiving the guilty verdict, Socrates displayed remarkable composure, a characteristic trait throughout the trial․ Accounts suggest he wasn’t surprised, seemingly anticipating the outcome given the prevailing sentiment against him and his philosophical inquiries․ He engaged in a calm discussion with the jurors, questioning the fairness of their decision and expressing his continued commitment to truth․

Rather than pleading for mercy or exhibiting despair, Socrates maintained his dignity and philosophical stance․ He calmly accepted the judgment, viewing it as a consequence of his dedication to examining life and challenging conventional wisdom, even in the face of death․

The Sentence and Imprisonment

Following the verdict, Socrates faced a death sentence; however, he rejected exile or silence, ultimately enduring imprisonment awaiting the execution of his penalty․

The Proposed Penalties and Socrates’ Rejection

After being found guilty, Socrates was asked to propose a penalty fitting his crimes․ Surprisingly, he rejected suggestions of exile, which would have allowed him to continue philosophizing elsewhere, and even monetary fines․ He firmly believed that to propose a lesser punishment would be to acknowledge the justice of the charges against him – charges he vehemently denied․

Instead, Socrates ironically suggested being rewarded with free meals at the Prytaneum, a state-sponsored dining hall, recognizing his contribution to Athens through philosophical inquiry․ This audacious response infuriated the jury, solidifying their resolve for a harsher sentence, ultimately leading to his condemnation to death․

Conditions of Imprisonment in Athenian Prisons

Athenian prisons during Socrates’ time were markedly different from modern facilities․ Primarily used for holding individuals awaiting trial or execution, they lacked the rehabilitative focus of contemporary systems․ Conditions were harsh, characterized by cramped, dark cells and limited sanitation․ Prisoners relied on friends and family to bring food and basic necessities, as the state provided minimal support․

Socrates’ imprisonment wasn’t solitary confinement; he received visitors, including disciples like Plato and Crito, who detailed his philosophical discussions and plans for escape․ Despite the grim environment, Socrates maintained his composure and continued engaging in dialogue, demonstrating his unwavering commitment to philosophical inquiry even in adversity․

The Opportunity for Escape: Crito’s Plea

Crito, a devoted friend of Socrates, visited him in prison and passionately urged him to escape, presenting a detailed plan to smuggle him out of Athens․ Crito argued that escaping was not only possible but also justifiable, emphasizing the injustice of the verdict and Socrates’ duty to his family and friends who would suffer from his death․

He highlighted the potential for public condemnation of the Athenian authorities if Socrates were allowed to die unjustly․ However, Socrates steadfastly refused, believing that escaping would violate his principles and undermine the laws of Athens, even if those laws were unfairly applied to him․

Socrates’ Philosophical Stance on Death

Socrates viewed death not as an evil, but as a potential transition to a better state, or peaceful nothingness, dismissing the common fear as ignorance․

The Soul’s Immortality and the Afterlife

Socrates, as portrayed in Plato’s dialogues, particularly the Phaedo, extensively argued for the immortality of the soul․ He posited that the soul exists prior to birth and continues after death, undergoing reincarnation․ This belief stemmed from his theory of Forms – eternal, unchanging ideals – which the soul apprehends before inhabiting a body․

Death, therefore, isn’t annihilation but a separation of the soul from the body, allowing it to return to the realm of Forms․ The virtuous soul, having focused on philosophical pursuits, is deemed more likely to achieve a favorable afterlife․ Conversely, a soul attached to bodily desires faces a less desirable fate, potentially requiring further cycles of rebirth․ This perspective offered Socrates solace in the face of execution․

The Fear of Death as Ignorance

Socrates argued that the fear of death arises from a false belief that death is an evil․ He contended that humans fear what they do not understand, and death remains largely unknown․ If death is simply a state of non-existence, it cannot be harmful, as there is no consciousness to experience harm․

Alternatively, if death involves a transition to another realm, it could be even more beneficial than life․ Therefore, fearing death is irrational; true wisdom lies in recognizing our ignorance about it․ Socrates believed philosophical inquiry should aim to dispel this fear, preparing individuals for a peaceful acceptance of their mortality․

Acceptance of Fate and Divine Providence

Socrates demonstrated a profound acceptance of his fate, believing it was divinely ordained․ He consistently maintained that a good man should not fear death, even when facing unjust punishment; This acceptance stemmed from his conviction that the gods guide all things, and resisting their will is futile and impious․

He viewed his trial not as a defeat, but as a fulfillment of a higher purpose․ Socrates trusted in divine providence, believing that even in death, a greater good would be served․ This unwavering faith allowed him to face execution with remarkable composure and dignity, inspiring generations․

The Execution of Socrates

Socrates faced execution by hemlock poisoning, calmly accepting his fate amidst friends and disciples, demonstrating philosophical fortitude until his final moments․

The Method of Execution: Hemlock Poisoning

Socrates’ execution involved the administration of hemlock, a highly poisonous plant․ This method, common in ancient Athens for capital punishment, induced gradual paralysis beginning in the feet, ascending through the body․ The process wasn’t swift, allowing Socrates time for final conversations with his devoted followers․

Plato’s Phaedo vividly describes the physical effects, detailing the chilling sensation and eventual cessation of bodily functions․ The hemlock’s impact wasn’t merely physical; it represented the state’s rejection of Socrates’ philosophical inquiries․ It was a deliberate, public act intended to silence dissent, yet ironically, it immortalized Socrates’ ideas and cemented his legacy as a martyr for truth and intellectual freedom․

Socrates’ Final Hours and Conversations

Socrates spent his last hours in prison, calmly engaging in philosophical discourse with friends and disciples, notably detailed in Plato’s Phaedo․ He dismissed anxieties about death, arguing for the soul’s immortality and the prospect of a better afterlife; These conversations weren’t expressions of despair, but rather a reaffirmation of his lifelong pursuit of wisdom and virtue․

He patiently answered questions, offering reasoned arguments and challenging conventional beliefs․ His composure and intellectual rigor remained unbroken, even in the face of imminent death․ Socrates’ final moments exemplified his commitment to philosophical inquiry, transforming his execution into a powerful lesson on living a meaningful life․

The Presence of Friends and Disciples

Throughout Socrates’ imprisonment and final hours, a devoted circle of friends and disciples remained steadfastly by his side․ Figures like Plato, Crito, and Xenophon witnessed his unwavering commitment to his principles, documenting his dialogues and providing invaluable accounts of his character․ Their presence wasn’t merely observational; they actively participated in philosophical discussions, challenging Socrates and seeking guidance․

These companions offered opportunities for escape, which Socrates resolutely declined, prioritizing adherence to the law․ Their grief was palpable, yet they respected his decision, recognizing the profound integrity that defined his life and death․ Their testimonies became crucial in preserving Socrates’ legacy․

Philosophical Interpretations and Legacy

Plato and Xenophon’s writings immortalized Socrates, shaping Western philosophy; his emphasis on reason, ethics, and self-knowledge continues to inspire critical thought today․

Plato’s Accounts: Apology, Crito, and Phaedo

Plato’s dialogues offer invaluable, though potentially idealized, portrayals of Socrates’ trial and final days․ The Apology meticulously reconstructs Socrates’ defense speech, showcasing his unwavering commitment to philosophical inquiry and truth, even in the face of death․

The Crito explores Socrates’ reasoning for accepting his unjust sentence, emphasizing the importance of obeying just laws and upholding societal order, even when personally wronged․ Finally, the Phaedo details Socrates’ serene death, focusing on his philosophical arguments for the immortality of the soul and the separation of the body and spirit․

These texts are foundational for understanding Socrates’ beliefs and the ethical dilemmas surrounding his trial, though their literary nature necessitates critical analysis․

Xenophon’s Portrayal of Socrates

Xenophon, a student and contemporary of Socrates, presents a contrasting perspective in his Memorabilia and Apology․ Unlike Plato’s more philosophical and dramatic accounts, Xenophon’s portrayal emphasizes Socrates’ practical wisdom, piety, and contributions to Athenian society․

He depicts Socrates as a skilled conversationalist who guided his companions towards virtuous conduct and sound judgment, rather than a radical questioner challenging fundamental beliefs․ Xenophon’s Apology offers a more straightforward defense, focusing on rebutting specific accusations and highlighting Socrates’ beneficial influence․

Scholars debate whether Xenophon’s depiction is a more accurate, less idealized representation of the historical Socrates, or simply a different interpretation․

Socrates’ Influence on Western Philosophy

Socrates fundamentally reshaped Western philosophical inquiry, despite not leaving any written works himself․ His emphasis on critical self-examination, the Socratic method – questioning assumptions to reveal underlying contradictions – became a cornerstone of philosophical practice․

Through his student Plato, Socrates’ ideas profoundly influenced metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics․ Concepts like the pursuit of virtue, the importance of reason, and the search for universal definitions continue to resonate․

His martyrdom also established a powerful archetype of the philosopher as a truth-seeker willing to challenge authority, inspiring generations of thinkers․

The Significance of the Trial for Political Thought

Socrates’ trial highlights tensions between individual beliefs and state power, raising crucial questions about democracy, justice, and the limits of authority․

Conflict Between Individual Conscience and State Authority

Socrates’ unwavering commitment to philosophical inquiry, even when facing accusations that threatened his life, embodies a profound conflict․ He prioritized truth and moral integrity above obedience to the Athenian state, believing a life unexamined wasn’t worth living․ This stance directly challenged the authority demanding conformity․

The trial demonstrates the dangers when a government suppresses dissenting voices and prioritizes political expediency over intellectual honesty․ Socrates’ refusal to compromise his principles, even to save himself, established a powerful precedent for individual conscience as a check on state power․ His case continues to fuel debates about civil disobedience and the ethical obligations of citizens․

The Dangers of Democracy and Mob Rule

Socrates’ trial starkly illustrates the potential pitfalls of direct democracy, where popular opinion can easily sway justice․ The large jury, influenced by pre-existing biases and emotional appeals, condemned a man whose only crime was challenging conventional wisdom․ This highlights how easily a democratic system can devolve into mob rule, prioritizing popular sentiment over reasoned judgment․

The accusations against Socrates, fueled by political rivals, demonstrate how easily democratic processes can be manipulated․ His fate serves as a cautionary tale about the fragility of justice when subjected to the whims of public opinion and the dangers of unchecked power within a democratic framework․

The Importance of Critical Thinking and Questioning

Socrates’ life and death epitomize the vital importance of critical thinking and relentless questioning․ He challenged Athenians to examine their beliefs, exposing contradictions and prompting deeper understanding – a method perceived as threatening by the established order․ His unwavering commitment to intellectual honesty, even in the face of death, underscores the necessity of independent thought․

The trial reveals the dangers of unexamined assumptions and the suppression of dissenting voices․ Socrates’ insistence on questioning everything, including societal norms, remains a powerful call to cultivate intellectual courage and resist blind acceptance of authority, fostering a society built on reason and truth․

Modern Relevance and Scholarly Debate

Socrates’ trial continues to spark debate regarding intellectual freedom, justice, and the tension between individual beliefs and societal norms, remaining profoundly relevant today․

Socrates as a Symbol of Intellectual Freedom

Socrates stands as an enduring emblem of intellectual freedom, representing the courage to question established norms and pursue truth relentlessly, even in the face of persecution․ His unwavering commitment to critical thinking, embodied in his method of elenchus – probing questioning – challenged Athenian society’s assumptions․

The trial itself highlights the dangers of suppressing dissenting voices and the importance of protecting free speech․ His refusal to compromise his philosophical principles, even to save his life, cemented his legacy as a champion of independent thought․

For centuries, Socrates has inspired individuals to prioritize intellectual honesty and the pursuit of knowledge above conformity and societal pressure, making him a timeless icon․

Ongoing Discussions about the Fairness of the Trial

Scholarly debate continues regarding the fairness of Socrates’ trial, questioning whether political motivations heavily influenced the outcome․ Some argue the charges were fabricated or exaggerated by his opponents – Meletus, Anytus, and Lycon – seeking to silence a prominent critic of Athenian democracy․

The size of the jury (501 citizens) and the voting procedure, which allowed for relatively small majorities to secure a conviction, are also points of contention․

Historians analyze the socio-political climate of the time, suggesting Socrates’ philosophical inquiries threatened the established order, leading to a predetermined verdict․ The trial remains a complex case study in legal and ethical considerations․

The Enduring Appeal of Socrates’ Philosophy

Socrates’ enduring appeal stems from his commitment to critical thinking, self-examination, and the pursuit of truth, even in the face of death; His method of questioning – the Socratic method – continues to be a cornerstone of educational philosophy, fostering intellectual curiosity and rigorous analysis․

His emphasis on virtue, knowledge, and the examined life resonates across cultures and generations․

The accounts by Plato and Xenophon offer invaluable insights into his teachings and personality, solidifying his status as a foundational figure in Western thought․ His willingness to prioritize principles over personal safety inspires ongoing reflection on morality and justice․

Resources for Further Study

Explore Plato’s dialogues and Xenophon’s Memorabilia for primary sources; scholarly books and articles offer deeper analysis of Socrates’ life and trial․

Primary Sources: Plato’s Dialogues and Xenophon’s Memorabilia

Plato’s dialogues, particularly the Apology, Crito, and Phaedo, are foundational texts․ The Apology presents Socrates’ defense speech, offering invaluable insight into his philosophical stance and the charges against him․ Crito explores themes of justice, law, and civic duty through a conversation about escaping imprisonment․

Phaedo details Socrates’ final hours and arguments for the immortality of the soul․ Xenophon’s Memorabilia provides a different, more historically-focused perspective on Socrates’ life, character, and teachings, complementing Plato’s more philosophical portrayals․ These texts, though differing in style, are crucial for understanding the historical context and philosophical complexities surrounding Socrates’ trial and death․

Secondary Sources: Scholarly Books and Articles

Numerous scholarly works analyze Socrates’ trial and death, offering diverse interpretations․ Stone’s “The Trial of Socrates” provides a detailed legal and historical examination of the proceedings․ Benson’s “Socrates’ Apology” offers a comprehensive analysis of Plato’s text, exploring its rhetorical strategies and philosophical arguments․

Articles in journals like the Classical Quarterly and Ancient Philosophy frequently address specific aspects of the trial, such as the political motivations of the accusers or the philosophical implications of Socrates’ defense․ These sources provide critical perspectives and contextualize the primary texts, enriching our understanding of this pivotal event in intellectual history․

Online Resources and Digital Archives

Several online platforms offer access to resources concerning Socrates’ trial; The Perseus Digital Library provides digitized versions of primary texts, including Plato’s dialogues and Xenophon’s accounts, crucial for research․ JSTOR and Project MUSE host scholarly articles analyzing the trial’s historical and philosophical dimensions․

Internet Archive contains scanned copies of older scholarly books, offering valuable historical perspectives․ Websites dedicated to ancient philosophy often feature dedicated sections on Socrates, compiling relevant materials and offering interpretive essays․ These digital archives facilitate accessible and comprehensive study․

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Key takeaways:

• The growing revenue of college sports and the heightened attention on the experience of college athletes suggest that college athletics is far from the amateur endeavor it might have started as decades ago.
• Recent policy changes have allowed some college athletes to receive compensation, whether in the form of name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights or revenue sharing. However, not all college athletes have the right to be compensated.
• The NCAA has backed the SCORE Act, which would jeopardize college athlete compensation by prohibiting them from being classified as employees in the first place.
• Policymakers should consider proposals that strengthen rights for college athletes, including granting them employee status under federal labor laws.

Introduction

It has long been argued that college athletes should not receive compensation to maintain the “amateurism” of college sports. However, the growing revenue generated from college sports and heightened attention on the experience of college athletes suggest that college athletics is far from an amateur endeavor.

Only recently have college athletes been granted the right to be compensated for name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights. This decision came into effect after years of antitrust lawsuits against the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) compensation rules. These lawsuits culminated in the Supreme Court decision in NCAA v. Alston, as well as a growing number of states enacting their own compensation laws for college athletes. The recent House v. NCAA settlement allows Division I schools—those with the largest and most economically lucrative athletic programs—to share revenue with college athletes, and further expands opportunities for college athletes to receive compensation.

As a result of these policy changes and a growing movement among college athletes to demand fair compensation for their performance, federal policymakers have put forward proposals to address college athlete compensation. In this blog post, we examine these proposals and their impacts on college athletes and their labor/employment status.

A brief history of college athlete compensation

Despite claims of “amateurism” in college sports, the experience of college athletes showcases a reality in which athletics is prioritized over academics. For example, while the NCAA puts limits on how many hours college athletes can engage in athletic-related activities during playing season, many coaches create expectations for students to exceed these limits, with some athletes exceeding over 40 hours per week. News coverage has reported that coaches have issued fines to athletes who miss practices. Many college athletes are also required to travel for their games, forcing them to miss classes. If college athletes fail to meet these expectations, they may be cut from the team, which could jeopardize future scholarships and other academic opportunities.

Simply put, some college athletes are expected to perform a physical regimen that more closely resembles professional sports than amateur endeavors on top of their academic coursework. The athletic commitment is demanding enough to be its own job, yet college athletes are performing them without any meaningful compensation in return.

In recent years, there have been several policy changes related to college athlete compensation. In 2019, California became the first state to pass a law that granted college athletes NIL rights. The NCAA permitted NIL compensation in 2021 and since then, more than 30 states have enacted laws related to college athlete compensation, with remaining states deferring to NCAA rules to regulate such compensation.

A primary driver of the NCAA’s change of rules regarding NIL compensation was the 2021 Supreme Court decision in NCAA v. Alston. The unanimous decision upheld a lower court decision that found the NCAA’s rules restricting certain educational benefits for college athletes violated federal antitrust laws. In a concurring opinion, Justice Brett Kavanaugh questioned “whether the NCAA’s remaining compensation rules can pass muster under ordinary rule of reason scrutiny” and suggested collective bargaining as an avenue for college athletes to receive a fairer share of the revenue that they generate for their schools. Soon after the NCAA v. Alston decision, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued a memorandum taking the position that college athletes are employees under the National Labor Relations Act.

In response to this memo, men’s basketball players at Dartmouth College filed for a union election petition at the NLRB; however, the petition was withdrawn shortly after the 2024 presidential election. In January 2025, Acting General Counsel William Cowen rescinded Abruzzo’s memorandum, leaving college athletes’ employee status in limbo.

The House v. NCAA settlement, which allowed Division I schools to share revenue directly with college athletes, was another turning point in the college athlete compensation landscape. The majority of states with college athlete compensation laws have considered legislation to modify their statues to reflect the terms of the House settlement, but not all have done so.

Who are college athletes?

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is the governing body for college athletics in the United States, overseeing sports programs for 557,000 college athletes at more than 1,100 colleges. It organizes institutions into three divisions based on size, athletic scope, and financial resources. Division I schools are the largest, with the most extensive athletic programs and highest scholarship limits. Approximately 37% of college athletes compete for Division I schools. Division II schools offer fewer scholarships and financial resources, while Division III has the greatest share of college athletes (38%), but offers no athletic scholarships.

During the 2024–2025 school year, the college athlete population was 57% male and 43% female. These young men and women are diverse: 61% are white, 16% are Black, 7% are Hispanic or Latino, 7% report more than two races, and 2% are Asian. Breaking down demographics by race and gender, we find that white males make up the largest group at 32%, followed by white females at 28%, Black males at 12%, and Black females at 4%. The remaining athletes fall into other demographic categories. If we focus on men’s basketball and men’s football athletes at the highest revenue-earning,1 there are 11,504 total athletes, 32% of whom are white and 48% of whom are Black, with the remaining athletes falling into an “other” race category.

Figure A

In terms of geography, college athletes tend to be from the most populous states. According to estimates using NCAA data and population data from Census, most student-athletes are from California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania (in descending order). On a per capita basis, it is Georgia, North Carolina, and Michigan (in descending order) that produce the highest rates of college athletes. This is likely due to having several large state universities with strong athletic programs and an impressive high school sports infrastructure. NCAA-affiliated institutions are also concentrated in the populous states, but especially among states in the Northeast. The states with the most NCAA schools are Pennsylvania (96), New York (93), California (59), Texas (53), and Massachusetts (51).

Current policy landscape

As mentioned above, many states have enacted laws that grant college athletes NIL rights. In the wake of the House v. NCAA settlement, there have been calls for federal policymakers to pass legislation addressing college athlete compensation.

One of the most prominent pieces of federal legislation is the Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements (SCORE) Act. Backed by the NCAA, this bill would prohibit college athletes from being classified as employees, denying basic labor rights to over half a million young people. The bill creates a federal standard for NIL rights. In doing so, the SCORE Act preempts state legislation concerning college athlete compensation, creating a ceiling rather than a floor for setting standards around college athlete compensation. Further, the SCORE Act limits the types of NIL deals athletes can enter, places caps on NIL payments, and restricts athletes’ abilities to transfer and play at new schools. Finally, the bill would grant the NCAA broad antitrust immunity by authorizing them to limit revenue sharing and education-related benefits to athletes.

On April 3, 2026, President Trump issued an executive order on college athletics. Similar to the SCORE Act, the order directs the NCAA to tighten rules on transfers, eligibility, and NIL compensation, threatening noncompliant schools with the loss of federal funding. It does not, however, address whether college athletes are employees (an earlier executive order from Trump directed the Department of Labor and National Labor Relations Board to clarify employee status of college athletes). Multiple lawyers have argued the latest executive order would not survive a legal challenge. The NCAA president nonetheless praised it, and both the administration and conference commissioners are using the order to push Congress to pass the SCORE Act.

The Student Athlete Fairness & Enforcement (SAFE) Act is another proposal that seeks to codify a federal standard for NIL rights. However, unlike the SCORE Act, the SAFE Act establishes strong health and safety protections for college athletes, allows flexibility for transfers, and places penalties on bad actor agents, among other reforms. Furthermore, the bill does not address college athletes’ employee status or shield the NCAA from antitrust liability.

By far the most effective policy solution for college athletes to be fairly compensated is to grant them the right to form unions and bargain collectively. Legislation like the College Athlete Right to Organize Act  would classify college athletes as employees, granting them the right to form unions and bargaining collectively under the National Labor Relations Act. The bill would also amend the NLRA to define public colleges—in addition to private colleges—as an employer in the context of intercollegiate sports so that all college athletes have the right to organize and collectively bargain.

Below we evaluate whom these proposals impact and estimate how much revenue the college sports industry generates under current compensation policies.

College athlete demographics versus college attendee demographics

College sports are frequently presented as disproportionately Black, but the data show a slightly different story. Black college athletes make up roughly 16% (89,000) of all college athletes compared with 13% (3.31 million) of the total college student population, not significantly different from the NCAA share. Hispanics are drastically underrepresented in the NCAA, accounting for only 7% of college athletes, despite representing over 20% of total college enrollment. In fact, it is white college athletes, and white male athletes in particular, who are disproportionately represented in college athletics: While 61% of college athletes are white and 32% are white males, only 48% of all college students are white and only 19.1% are white males. Notably, it is Black female athletes who are left out of NCAA college athletics at the highest rates. While they account for 8.3% of total college enrollment (2.14 million), they are only 4.5% of total college athletes in the NCAA (25,000).

Figure B How much do collegiate sports make?

By far, the most economically lucrative division in the NCAA is Division I sports, which includes 37% of total athletes but generates 96% of total revenue across the three divisions, according to the NCAA. According to the Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database (an authoritative source on college athletics finances and a better representation of self-generated revenue), Division I schools generated $14.6 billion during the 2024 fiscal year. For context, of the five major professional sports leagues in the United States, only the NFL generated more revenue than Division I schools did during the same time period. The NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, and MLS generated $22.2 billion, $12.8 billion, $12.3 billion, $6.6 billion, and $2.2 billion, respectively, in fiscal year 2024. The primary revenue sources for NCAA Division I are media rights (27%), donor contributions (22%), ticket sales (15%), and institutional support (14%). NCAA Division I revenue has grown 115% (in 2024$) since 2015.

Figure C

Due to the House v. NCAA settlement, schools gained the ability to share revenue directly with athletes beginning in the 2025–2026 school year, adding to any third-party NIL earnings athletes may receive. Though official figures for both revenue sharing and NIL deals are unavailable, schools are currently capped at $20.5 million under the revenue-sharing agreement. Not every university joined the new revenue-sharing arrangement, but every Power 4 school did (the 68 universities in the four highest revenue-generating conferences). Under the generous assumption that all Power 4 schools share the full $20.5 million with their athletes, this would amount to approximately $1.394 billion in athlete earnings, or about 15.1% of total revenue across these conferences. For comparison, coaches at the same set of schools receive $2.3 billion in compensation or 19% of total expenditure. However, if implemented as intended, the revenue-sharing agreement would be a step-up for revenue-generating athletes. Prior to House v. NCAA, the most Power 4 schools could provide the athletes was $2 to 4 million dollars in athletic scholarship money.

Conclusion

Despite the growing revenue that athletes are generating for college sports, many college athletes are not being compensated for their work. Recent policy changes have allowed some college athletes to receive compensation, whether in the form of NIL rights or revenue sharing. However, the reality is that not all college athletes have the opportunity to be compensated. Federal policy proposals, such as the SCORE Act, would further jeopardize college athlete compensation by prohibiting them from being classified as employees in the first place. It is bad policy to deny any worker basic labor rights. Policymakers should consider proposals that strengthen rights for college athletes, including granting them employee status under federal labor laws.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Notre Dame Student Policy Network (SPN) for their contributions to the background research for this blog post. The authors would like to thank Billy Bonnist and Liesl Erhardt for leading the SPN team, which included Sarah Francis, Evan Fitzpatrick, Ciara Gilligan, Anvita Jaipura, Owen Murphy, and Caroline Streicker.

1. Defined as the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) autonomy schools or schools in the Power 4 (formerly Power 5) conferences. It is worth acknowledging that other sports also produce significant revenue, including women’s basketball, softball, men’s baseball, and women’s volleyball.

Quibbling with headlines is annoying, I know, but I was provoked by the title of economist Jason Furman’s New York Times piece last week: “Every President Tries It. It Never Works.” The “it” being referred to here is “reversing the loss of manufacturing jobs.”

The provocation was the “every president tries” part. If “trying” is defined as changing policy to consistently support employment growth in U.S. manufacturing, no president has tried in my lifetime to do this. Amazingly, doing nothing has indeed failed. Doing nothing was also the wrong choice.

The loss of manufacturing jobs

First, some data to define the problem. Furman focuses on the share of total employment that is in manufacturing. He notes that many structural non-policy forces (like technology and what people demand as countries get richer) put steady downward pressure on this in any growing country. There’s a lot of truth in that.

But the U.S. got much richer between 1965 and 2000—in fact it got richer at a far faster pace than it has since, so both technology and the different demands of a richer society should have been operating a lot less intensely since then. And yet the level of U.S. manufacturing employment was steady during that period, fluctuating roughly between 17.0 and 19.5 million depending on the state of the business cycle (see Figure A). After 35 years of stability, manufacturing jobs then cratered: 3 million manufacturing jobs were lost after the recession of 2001, and the 2003–2007 recovery saw essentially no gain at all in manufacturing jobs—the first manufacturing jobless recovery we’ve ever experienced. Then another 3 million jobs were lost during the Great Recession of 2008–09.

After falling from over 17 million to just over 11 million between 2000 and 2010, the sector has seen only very slow growth since. The new high point of manufacturing employment in the recent past was 12.9 million workers in early 2023.

Figure A

Manufacturing historically lost a disproportionate share of jobs during recessions, but what kept it from gaining jobs back quickly in the early 2000s and 2010s recoveries the way it usually had? One huge influence was the emergence of a large trade deficit in manufactured goods. In those decades, the deficit peaked at 4.4% of GDP in 2005 (see Figure B). After being forced into improvement by the Great Recession and the collapse of American spending on all goods and services (including imports), it has steadily moved back toward this peak and surpassed it in recent years.

Figure B

Policy measures can close the trade deficit and reshore manufacturing jobs

Tolerating this rise of the U.S. trade deficit was a policy choice. The deficit’s rise was driven by a dollar whose value is too high to allow balanced trade. A high dollar makes our exports expensive to foreign consumers and makes foreign imports cheap for U.S. residents. Hence, it leads directly to chronic trade deficits (see Figure C). Any serious effort at boosting manufacturing employment would require using policy levers to reduce the value of the U.S. dollar.

Figure C

What are these currency policy levers? First, policy would need to prevent other countries’ governments from actively managing the value of their currency to give their exports a competitive advantage against U.S.-produced goods. There are many ways to do this. Currency management is done through other countries’ governments (or their proxies) buying U.S. dollar-denominated assets (like Treasury bonds or mortgage-backed securities) to bid up the demand for dollars. There’s no particular reason the U.S. couldn’t undertake countervailing currency intervention and buy other countries’ assets whenever they bought ours in an effort to manage their currency’s value. Or we could tax foreign purchases of U.S. assets.

Second, we could raise taxes domestically to close fiscal deficits. In coming years unless we run into a recession (which the Iran conflict makes more likely), there is likely to be sustained upward pressure on interest rates stemming from the big increases in fiscal deficits locked in by the Republican mega tax and spending bill. Higher interest rates in the U.S. will attract foreign investors to U.S. assets, which will bid up the value of the U.S. dollar further and harm manufacturing.

Third, we could hasten the inevitable deflation of the AI-driven stock market bubble, which has attracted foreign investors looking to make high returns. All else equal, there would be less upward pressure on the U.S. dollar if foreign investors were not rushing in to buy dollars to purchase U.S. stocks.

Fourth, we could accelerate the transition to cleaner energy. The U.S. has swung from being a large net importer to a net exporter of oil and natural gas. This has greatly increased foreign demand for U.S. dollars simply to buy our energy supplies, which pushes up the value of the dollar and hurts U.S. manufacturing.

Finally, we could reform our corporate tax code to stop its bias toward offshoring both paper profits and real production. The swing toward a large trade deficit in the pharmaceuticals sector, for example, can be linked directly to the first Trump administration’s changes in the corporate tax code.

In short, taking currency seriously would mean going against some very powerful economic interests—finance, tech, pharmaceuticals, and fossil fuels—in the name of helping U.S. manufacturing. But it would be a good trade to make. And to be clear, dollar weakness that is caused not by intentional policy decisions but is simply an outcome of erratic policy decisions will not provide any sustained benefits to U.S. manufacturing. U.S. manufacturing needs a competitive value of the dollar and a healthy and stable domestic economy. Engineering dollar decline by sabotaging the stability of the domestic economy does not help.

How many jobs could be reshored if currency policy somehow closed the U.S. manufacturing trade deficit? Very roughly it would be close to 3 million. This would not change the long-run trend in the manufacturing share of employment, but it would boost manufacturing-based communities around the country.

Indifference to manufacturing was bad for economic dynamism

The long-run gains to rebuilding communities of manufacturing process knowledge in the U.S. could be large. U.S. losses and China’s growing dominance in manufacturing are in large part a story of deconstructing communities of process knowledge in the U.S. and building them in China. These communities are geographic clusters where firms and workers specialize in particular manufacturing sub-sectors. The agglomeration of knowledge and skills leads to steady innovation which further locks in the competitive advantage of the cluster and raises productivity growth.

Currency policy destroyed these clusters in the U.S. and provided ample space for them to grow in China. The large and constant pressure of an overvalued dollar in the U.S. imposes a heavy drag on the prospects of new manufacturing firms setting up shop and becoming a center for clusters like these. The currency policy of China surely acted as the reverse of this, clearing huge competitive space for new entrants and for further growth in communities of process knowledge.

Currency management was not China’s only industrial policy measure, but it is the one that allowed an across-the-board competitive advantage in all manufacturing industries. And it is the only industrial policy in the U.S. that would reclaim some of the across-the-board manufacturing disadvantage we’ve allowed to be imposed on our domestic industry. Targeted protection and subsidies for particular sub-industries in manufacturing have been important in crafting the exact patterns of trade, but it is currency policy that largely explains the manufacturing-wide trade deficit that the U.S. runs with China and other countries that manage their currency.

How big is this problem of losing expertise and process knowledge in manufacturing for the overall economy? Another sign of the indifference towards manufacturing shown by successive U.S. policymakers is that we don’t even really know—and this indifference and the ignorance it generates has grown over the past year of the Trump administration. The manufacturing sector used to be a source of productivity dynamism in the U.S. economy, but recent data indicate that as we hemorrhaged millions of jobs we also saw declining productivity growth in the sector. This productivity decline might not be entirely genuine—it might be a problem with statistical measurement. It would be nice to invest in our data-gathering infrastructure to shed more light on this issue, but instead the parts of the Bureau of Labor Statistics who have the expertise to do this have been gutted by the Trump administration and longer-run cuts. Another angle of taking manufacturing seriously would be supporting the public structures that provide needed inputs to know what’s even happening in the sector.

Doing nothing was a mistake

U.S. presidents have made the implicit judgement over the past 50 years that it’s a good trade for Americans to have a smaller domestic manufacturing sector in return for cheap imports of manufactured goods, even if that means we’re running chronic large trade deficits. It’s not so obvious to me that’s a good trade, and there’s one last angle that makes it even less obvious.

The foreign inflow of capital that is the mirror image of the trade deficit in manufactured goods is essentially investors abroad bidding against Americans who are looking to buy stocks and bonds and other assets to build their wealth. Bidding up the price of these assets means long-run returns will be lower. In short, this current system of trade imbalances lowers the returns to holding wealth for U.S. residents. One could argue that this is mostly a problem for wealthy U.S. households, who own the lion’s share of assets.

But there is also the issue of why the valuation of U.S. assets has grown in recent decades even aside from increased foreign demand. A huge part of this growth is a zero-sum transfer of income from labor earnings to corporate profits: Recent estimates have this transfer accounting for almost half of the entire nominal growth in the value of U.S. corporate equities in the last 40 years.

Absent foreign demand for U.S. assets, some of this loss to wages would have been counterbalanced for at least some subset of U.S. households by higher rates of return to their savings. To be clear, this zero-sum transfer from wages to wealth still would have been a negative development for the vast majority within the U.S. economy. But this transfer combined with the fact that most of the gains accrue to investors outside of the U.S. because of imbalances in trade and investment flows make it even more damaging. Essentially, U.S. households as workers feel all the pain of a campaign of wage suppression, but U.S. households as investors do not claim all of the benefits of this wage suppression.

Presidents have not tried to reverse manufacturing job loss

In the end, no president in my lifetime has made a serious and consistent effort to do what is necessary to make the U.S. dollar stay at values commensurate with balanced trade in manufacturing. Ronald Reagan famously negotiated the Plaza Accord, which pressured Germany and Japan (our two biggest trade-deficit partners at the time) to reflate their own economies and to stop currency intervention. But at the same time, Reagan ramped up military spending and made large tax cuts that put huge upward pressure on interest rates and led to huge trade deficits in the early 1980s. Bill Clinton oversaw smaller fiscal deficits but actively encouraged a “strong dollar policy” which saw the dollar hit some of its highest levels on record. This strong dollar policy and support for a punitive rescue package for countries slammed by the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s led to another large increase in U.S. trade deficits. The Clinton administration’s support for permanent normalized trade relations (PNTR) with China and for China’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) made it harder for subsequent administrations to apply pressure to China to abandon its significant currency management in the 2000s.

George W. Bush refused to address the Chinese currency management and undertook large tax cuts and increased military spending again, pushing up interest rates and leading to another round of large trade deficits. Barack Obama similarly failed to address currency management, even leaving it out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement he pushed hard in his final years in office. Donald Trump passed corporate tax changes that actively incentivized offshoring in his first term in office. His major trade policy change in the second term has been chaotic and fluctuating—though generally high and broad—tariffs across manufacturing. Manufacturing employment in 2025 averaged 157,000 lower than in 2024 even as the administration trumpeted these large tariff increases. That constitutes the worst non-recessionary year for manufacturing since 2004.

Furman is right that we have seen consistent presidential failure to support employment in manufacturing. And he’s right that most of these presidents made some rhetorical commitment to manufacturing that makes this failure jarring. But nothing serious was ever really tried, and that was a costly mistake.