The stabbing death of Sir David Amess as he met with constituents is both an occasion of mourning and horror but also a time to consider the animating principles of the best of our public servants, and the price they sometimes pay for mitment to the public good. Read More… The name of Sir David Amess, a Conservative member of the British Parliament for 39 years, was little known in the U.K., and almost certainly not at all known in...

While the latest election marks a decisive symbolic victory munism and progressivism, it’s but one development in a larger realignment marked by a mix of populism and centrism. Read More… Since 1925, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia has had a seat at the table in Czech parliaments. While momentarily sidelined by the Nazi occupation during World War II, the party managed to centralize power rather quickly thereafter, working with Moscow to crush dissent and impose totalitarian control from 1948 until...

The much anticipated film adaptation of the Frank Herbert sci-fi masterpiece demonstrates that the best support of a noble ideal is to actually believe it. Read More… With an opening weekend revenue of $41 million, director Denis Villeneuve’s Part 1 of his adaptation of Frank Herbert’s science fiction classic Dune has succeeded in getting Warner Bros. to greenlight Part 2, set for a 2023 release. Villeneuve’s Dune feels a bit like Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings—visually stunning, perfectly cast,...

The human rights organization says it can no longer “work freely and without fear” as the Hong Kong government continues to repress fundamental freedoms. Read More… London-based Amnesty International has succumbed to the pressures of Hong Kong’s wide-sweeping National Security Law (NSL), announcing on Oct. 25 its decisions to withdraw operations from the city. The human rights organization will close its two Hong Kong branches, citing fear of “restrictions of freedoms of expression.” The nongovernmental organization (NGO) said its branch...

Since the National Security Law was imposed Beijing in 2020, basic human and civil rights in Hong Kong have been increasingly crushed, with no end in sight and emigration the only short-term solution. Read More… Hong Kong has e the face of China’s dictatorship, the most dramatic evidence of Xi Jinping’s determination to extinguish even the hint of dissent among his people. Today residents of the Special Administrative Region are ruled pletely and cruelly by the Chinese Communist Party as...

The Founders worried about “factionalism” ing tyranny, but thought the nation so large and scattered that it would be impossible for the “like-minded” e together for evil ends. But modern social and mass media have helped turn citizens into mobs determined to destroy their political enemies. Do we have anything mon anymore? Read More… It’s e monplace observation that while we are indeed a divided nation, we have been divided before and, some claim, in much worse ways. The first...

The entrepreneur’s fight for a free press and human rights in an increasingly authoritarian Hong Kong is recognized yet again, even as he sits in jail for violating the draconian National Security Law. Read More… At the annual International Press Freedom Awards, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) will honor Jimmy Lai, longtime Acton friend and outspoken political dissident in Hong Kong, with the 2021 Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award. The annual event, set to take place Nov. 18, presents...

Challenge the political agenda of the Gates and Ford Foundations, but do not use means that undermine the very rule of law that should be defended. Read More… A healthy state protects life, secures liberty, and defends property. A totalitarian state does the opposite: it arbitrarily pels, and seizes property. J. D. Vance recently appeared on Fox News with Tucker Carlson to discuss a verbal altercation between Arizona State University students, one of whom was the recipient of a Ford...

By the time Lai appears in court on Dec. 28 to face treason charges, he will have spent almost a year in prison, during which time his panies have been folded and six of his senior-ranking colleagues have all been arrested. Read More… Jimmy Lai, a 73-year-old Hong Kong media mogul, outspoken critic of China, pro-democracy activist, and recipient of the Acton Institute’s 2020 Faith and Freedom Award, will approach a year behind bars as his national security case is...

In addition to boosting material welfare, capitalism has the potential to strengthen the bonds of a virtuous society, inspiring sacrifice, generosity, trust, patience, friendship, self-governance, and more. Read More… In defending the cause of economic freedom, it can be easy to focus only on the material fruits, whether it be new innovations and efficiencies or the ongoing expansion of opportunity and abundance. But before and beyond our arguments about material es, we often neglect the foundations from which these successes...