Note: This is the post #18 in a weekly series of explanatory posts on the officials and agencies included in the President’s Cabinet. See the series introductionhere. Cabinet position:White House Chief of Staff Department: Executive Office of the President Current staffer:Reince Priebus Department Budget: Primary Duties of the Secretary:While the roles of the chief of staff varies by presidential administration, they usually include the following: • Select key White House staff and supervise them; • Structure the White House staff...

Note: This is post #34 in a weekly video series on basic microeconomics. How do tariffs affect consumers? What about producers? Who wins and who loses? In this video by Marginal Revolution University, economist Alex Tabarrok looks at the costs and consequences of tariffs, quotas, and protectionism. (If you find the pace of the videos too slow, I’d mend watching them at 1.5 to 2 times the speed. You can adjust the speed at which the video plays by clicking...

Liberty and collectivism are not peting political systems; at a deeper level, they are rival theologies. Each has its own depiction of God and, with it, differing assessments of human dignity. Sir Roger Scruton’s new book, On Human Nature, notes that modern fascism and socialism begin with the premise that mankind is captive, either to its biology or its social circumstances. My review dwelled upon the first, and the racially discriminatory societies that biological determinism produces. But the second is...

The most mencement address was never delivered at a graduation. In June 1997 Mary Schmich, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune, published what seemed like a perennial mencement address she would have given if asked—centered around one critical piece of advice: wear sunscreen. Two years later, Australian film director Baz Luhrmann set Schmich’s column to music, hired voice actor Lee Perry to record it, and released a music single, “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen),” that went on to top the...

On April 27th, we were pleased to e John Mark Reynolds, president of the St. Constantine School, to speak on the topic of “Beauty and the Destruction of the Individual” as part of the 2017 Acton Lecture Series. According to Reynolds, starting in the late-Victorian period, American society began to question the existence of beauty, and over time our culture accepted the notion that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Despite warnings by writers such as C.S. Lewis,...

May 25 is Africa Day, a holiday originally created to celebrate the foundation of the Organization of African Unity (now known as the African Union) on May 25, 1963. In honor of memoration, here are 25 facts you should know about the continent: 1. The continent has 54 independent states and one “non-self-governing territory” (Western Sahara). 2. Before colonial rule prised up to 10,000 different states and autonomous groups with distinct languages and customs. 3. The mon language spoken on...

In secular Europe, it is rare for politicians to suggest that theEuropean Union’s expansive, imperious policies should be reformedby implementing a Christian doctrine. Yet that is precisely what a manifesto aimed at curbing EU excesses has done. The document proposes paring back the EU’s authority in the name of subsidiarity, the Catholic principle that a higher level of government should refrain from interveningin the actions of a lower level of government (and, we should add, in the actions of civil...

Imagine a president who regularly steps on his own shoelaces and seems to waste power. This president inspires an especially venomous reaction from the press. They actually have contempt for him. He repeatedly harms his own agenda by violating established norms with little regard for the negative impact of doing so. The institution of the presidency relies significantly on a reserve of social and cultural capital built up over the two plus centuries of its existence. My hypothetical president shows...

The primary role of the World Health Organization (WHO) is to “direct and coordinate international health within the United Nations’ system.” But a new report finds that the UN agency is directing more money toward travel expenses than to fighting global diseases. According to the Associated Press, the WHO routinely has spent about $200 million a year on travel expenses—more than what it spends to fight AIDS and hepatitis ($70.5 million), tuberculosis ($59 million), and malaria ($61 bined. At a...

When es to responding to contemporary shifts in culture, Christianshave much to learn from Abraham Kuyper, the late Dutch theologian, university president, and prime minister of the Netherlands. “If God is sovereign, then his lordship must extend over all of life,” Kuyper wrote, “and it cannot be restricted to the walls of the church or within the Christian orbit.” Kuyper’s public theology offers plenty of challenges to our public responses, bringing a range of implications for the future of a...