It is estimated that, at any time in the U.S., there are 1.2 million people with mental illness who are being held either in jail or prison. Some of them, without a doubt, truly belong there. For most, though, jail and prison has e a quasi-triage center/hospital/safety net. And it takes a huge toll. Take Cook County, Ill. for example. Sheriff Tom Dart keeps track of the mentally ill e under his jurisdiction. On average, at least 30% of the...

Constitution Day is celebrated in America every year on September 17, the anniversary of the day the framers signed the document. Here are five facts you should know about the U.S. Constitution. 1. The Constitution contains 4,543 words, including the signatures and has four sheets, 28-3/4 inches by 23-5/8 inches each. It contains 7,591 words including the 27 amendments. It is the oldest and shortest written Constitution of any major government in the world. 2. Thomas Jefferson did not sign...

The modern age has introducedmany blessings when es to child-rearing and child development, offering kids ever more opportunities for education, play, personal development, andsocial interaction. Yet as time, leisure, and wealth continue to increase, and as we move farther away from years ofexcessive andintensive child labor, we ought to be wary of falling into a different sort of lopsided lifestyle — one that over-elevates othergoods (e.g. study, practice, play) to the detriment of good old-fashioned labor. As I’ve written previously,...

This afternoon I delivered the Constitution Day lecture at Cooley Law School in Grand Rapids. The school did an excellent job promoting the event and I was thankful for an opportunity to speak about our founding documents and introduce Acton ideas and thought to law students. Much of my discussion centered upon Calvin Coolidge’s notion that there is a “finality” and rest within our founding principles. When we endeavor to move beyond the principles of our founding; we begin to...

This November marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. This momentous occasion symbolizing the decline of Soviet Communism is sure to be met with joyous celebration, not only in Germany, but around the world. While November signifies Soviet Communism’s decline it memorates one of its darkest, most horrendous hours. Annually on the fourth Saturday of November, Ukrainians remember the brutal, man-made famine imposed on their country by Joseph Stalin and his Communist regime in the 1930s....

It’s interesting to debate and share idea like freedom of speech, religious liberty or entrepreneurship. Helping folks in the developing world create and sustain businesses if exciting. Watching women who’ve been victimized by human trafficking or their own culture find ways to support themselves and their families is wonderful. But none of this happens without rule of law. Rule of law is not “sexy.” It doesn’t get the press of a brilliantly successful NGO. There are no great photo ops...

Vox is telling us that it’s “dangerous to be a woman in America.” (The news is delivered in a creepy video where statistics are displayed via writing on a woman’s body. No objectification there…) They also want us to know that it may take a “nuclear option” to tackle sexual assault on college campuses. Enough. In the U.S., 1 out of 6 women will suffer some sort of sexual assault during her life. 73 percent of the time, she will...

Most Christians recognize that the Bible has lot to say about economic topics, such as money and poverty. Yet there is a paradoxical assumption, whether stated or unspoken, that these passages don’t speak to larger economic issues. Occasionally this is true, but more often than not, we can find principles from Scripture that can help us discern how we should think about matters related to economics. Consider, for example, the issue of economic systems. The Bible doesn’t claim to favor...

With Lecrae’s Anomaly album claiming number the one spot on Billboard’s Top 200, the rapper e under fire for his ments about the inconsistency of those who rightly protest police abuse yet do not protest forms of rap music that glorify violence in general. The es, in part, because some people believe that to call blacks living on the margins of society to moral virtue, in the midst of their protests about injustice, is “blaming the victim.” However, when we...

Last week in Washington, D.C., AEI’s Values and Capitalism initiative hosted their inaugural Evangelical Leadership Summit. The summit was a nonpartisan conversation among leading evangelical writers, pastors, parachurch leaders, business executives, artists, and policymakersthatfocused on “concrete paths to enhancing human flourishing.” Summit panels emphasized distinct contributions to human flourishing made by the church, universities, the arts, Christian relief-and-development organizations., local antipoverty initiatives, and more. Click each link below to watch a video of the panel sessions: What does a healthy...