The Fund for American Studies has a superb It’s a Wonderful Life-style video about life without capitalism. The video not only shows what life would be like if we banned free enterprise (i.e., a lot like Soviet Russia) but also makes the point that when you lose economic freedom you lose other freedoms too. As the angel says, “When you take away the carrot, all you’re left with is the stick. My favorite part of the video: Anti-capitalist activist: “I...

In this week’s Acton Commentary, “Your work is more than your job,” I try to provide a broader perspective on the dynamics of a proper “work-life balance.” My main point, as the title indicates, is that our paid work is just a part–an important part no doubt, but just a part–of our “work,” understood as the service that we are called to do for others. The point of departure for this piece is Labor Day, which was observed this week...

On November 16, 1993, President Bill Clinton signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) into law, a bill backed by nearly unanimous bipartisan support. While RFRA has since then protected the religious liberty of American citizens, it has lost many of its original supporters and is now under attack. So why was RFRA signed into law in the first place? Does the bill truly protect religious pluralism? Daniel Mark, a professor of political science at Villanova University, helps answer these...

“Want a job at the Pig?” asked my best friend Steve. By my reaction, you would have thought he’d asked if I wanted a date with Kathy Ireland rather than inquiring about a job as a grocery sacker at the Piggly Wiggly. But I was living at Steve’s parent’s house rent-free, and needed to earn some money. And in Clarksville, Texas in 1985, the prospects of an inexperienced teen finding a good job were only slightly better than chances of...

Diet Eman during WWII By the time I had the privilege of meeting Diet Eman, she was a woman who reminded me of my own grandmother: relatively short, with a crown of white hair, a sparkle in her eye, and a solid Dutch accent in her speech. She was friendly, humble, and happy – just a lovely person. But there was more to Diet Eman than met the eye; she was also a woman with an amazing story, who had...

James Pethokoukis of AEI says this is the most important economic chart in Western civilization. pletely agree. The concept is so important that no student should receive a passing grade in any economics class—whether in high school or college—unless they can explain why economic growth matters (ideally, every educated Christian would be able to do so too since it has theological implications). Yet, sadly, few Americans recognize its importance despite the fact, as Pethokoukis notes, that in real terms, the...

When I moved to Jackson, Tenn, in 2010, I found that I e to the worst movie theater town I’d ever lived in. We had a 16-screen theater that was dirty and run down with fortable seating. To pany it, we had a newer facility on the edge of town that was clearly meant to be higher concept, but struggled right away and seemed to quickly give up on excellence. I don’t know if things started this way, but the...

TheNew YorkTimes’1619 Projectseeks toestablishthe moment the first slave ship landed in Virginia as “a new point of origin for our national story,” because“nearly everything that has made America exceptional grew out of slavery.” The series – which attempts to link American prosperity, our economic system, even our lack of asingle-payer healthcare systemto slavery – can count at least one prominent thinker as a supporter: Karl Marx. The father munism anticipated theTimes’ view that the U.S. economy owes its might entirely...

What do we mean when we talk about “liberty?” While it may appear that we all use the word in the same way, closer examination reveals that Americans have a wide range of meanings for the term. For instance, when those of us at Acton refer to liberty we tend to have in mind the definition we use in our “core principles”: Liberty, in a positive sense, is achieved by fulfilling one’s nature as a person by freely choosing to...

We should be skeptical of conspiracy theories, mainly because they assume too much skill and intelligence from conspirators. Experience tells us ignorance and petence are much mon among those holding power and influence. Then again, some “coincidences” are equally hard to believe. The ongoing hysteria about fires in the es just ahead of October’s Synod of Bishops from the Amazon region is one such instance. Environmentalists and their celebrity friends wasted little time in spreading myths about the fires and...