The political divisions that started erupting across America in 2015 are about many things. These include the meaning of national sovereignty, the sense of a growing chasm between the political class and everyone else, and angst about what many believe to be unwarranted accelerations in wealth and e inequalities. Underlying such worries, however, is another belief: that opportunities for advancing one’s social and economic well-being are narrowing, even disappearing for many Americans. And if—if—that is the case, then part of...

Today, I am working from Rome. It is Labor Day here–La Festa dei lavoratori–one of those many guaranteed Italian holidays which we are not supposed to spend in the office. It is the day, ironically, that some of us like to sneak into the office. It is the day I love most to work: to freely celebrate my vocation for thinking and writing without a boss or anyone higher up on the totem pole telling me that I have to....

William F. Buckley Jr. frequently told the joke about the doctor who asked his patient what he planned to do now that he had only a few months left to live. The patient said he would join the Communist Party: “Better one of them should go than one of us.” Conservatives often have the right diagnosis of the problem but the wrong solution. One such case is the proposal for the federal government to tax, or seize, the endowments of...

A growing number of conservatives have said the behavior of certain Ivy League colleges demands that the federal government seize their endowments. But will confiscating this source of nonprofit funds give the government a legal justification to do the same to tax-exempt churches? This was one of the main topics on my weekly Thursday interview on “Mornings with Carmen LaBerge,” which is nationally syndicated by Faith Radio Network. The program also discussed a recent Acton Powerblog article about encouraging scientific...

Imagine you have just wrapped up another Earth Day celebration at your church (online only this year) and as long time chair of the Creation mittee, you reflect on all the plishments: banning Styrofoam coffee cups and plastic bottles; mandating locally sourced and sustainably farmed organic food at all hospitality events; convincing your pastor to offer sermons and “climate blessings” provided by the mother church’s Social Justice office. But the crowning achievement, the green feather in your cap, is that...

The Acton Institute is helping popularize a left-leaning professor’s stark criticism of the universal basic e among the world’s 275-million Francophones. A new French language translation of “Marx vs. the universal basic e” recounts the findings of Ive Marx, a supporter of e redistribution. Despite his ideological inclinations, Marx ran the data and concluded that the UBI would actually harm the poor: Marx et une équipe de chercheurs ont testé les effets de l’introduction d’un revenu universel aux Pays-Bas. Leur...

There have been many responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in all spheres of life from businesses, educational institutions, churches, and within close intimate human relationships. Most of these responses have arisen spontaneously as people’s duties to protect themselves and others, both individuals munities, have e plain to them. Government at all levels has also acted, imposing a series of sometimes necessary but often arbitrary and capricious restrictions on economic and social life. Protests from citizens concerned with the economic and...

Rev. Robert Sirico, president and co-founder of the Acton Institute, reflects on the ways government programs and government money can be corrupting, even when those programs may seem necessary during a crisis. Rev. Sirico shares why the Acton Institute will not be applying for the Paycheck Protection Program and how other businesses and non-profits should weigh the benefits and risks of government relief programs like this. ...

On Friday at The Stream, I wrote about the policy of releasing prisoners from penitentiaries in order to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Perhaps hundreds of those who have been released mitted new pounding the tragedies the American people must suffer during this global pandemic. In New York state alone, 50 freed inmates found themselves back in jail within three weeks. Last week at the Cato Institute, Clark Neily advocated broader release of prisoners and a fundamental rethinking of...

One reason why economists are viewed as modern-day Cassandras is that they tell us many things we don’t want to hear. Economics points relentlessly to the costs and benefits associated with particular decisions about alternative uses of scarce resources. Not everyone likes to be reminded of the trade-offs and unintended consequences that flow from different choices. Some of those side-effects touch upon political questions. How much liberty are we prepared to exchange for some assurance of security? Are we willing...