I asked myself where the power to enact change stemmed from.
For Clare and her sisters, fasting and renunciation were not physical punishments enacted on their bodies stemming from a foundation of shame or degradation but were testaments to their faith and essential elements of their religious experiences.
A law, enacted in the 1890s to contain costs stemming from the Civil War, bars most of those retirees from collecting the equivalent of a full, taxable pension with the tax-free disability benefits.
Moreover, Mr. Ferlinghetti's 1957 acquittal on obscenity charges stemming from the poem's language (re-enacted in the 2010 film "Howl") is credited with igniting the free-speech movement and the counterculture that followed.
However, the social strains stemming from increased inequality make it almost impossible to enact such policies".
In the United States, similar, if slower-acting, reductions could prove politically difficult to enact in Congress and would do little to address the bigger, long-term fiscal problems, stemming from Medicare and Social Security.
In recent weeks, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have experienced painful losses stemming from the housing crisis; their shares have plummeted and an emergency bailout plan has been enacted in case either government-sponsored company fails.
When Mr. Wallenda asked state lawmakers last year to enact special legislation to give him permission to undertake his crossing, they included a provision requiring him to pay for "reasonable costs associated with security or law enforcement" stemming from his walk.
stemming from a personal feud.
A second, more immediate, threat stems from enacting large tax cuts and boosting public spending in an economy already nearing full employment, which implies accelerating inflation, higher interest rates, or probably some combination of the two.
This ban on free speech in the Supreme Court plaza, enacted by Congress in 1949, stems from a desire to insulate government officials from those exercising their First Amendment rights, an altogether elitist mindset that views the government "elite" as different, set apart somehow, from the people they have been appointed to serve and represent.
