In this mentary I argue that the shape of the debate over the public health care option over the next four years should focus on the critical role played by mediating institutions of civil society: charities, churches, and voluntary organizations. While President Obama’s health care speech last week was in part intended to dispel myths about the proposed health care reforms, it perpetuated some myths of its own. Not least of these is the idea that “non-profit” must mean “governmentally-administered,”...

Last week when the videos were aired showing ACORN employees in their Baltimore and Washington DC offices consulting “a couple” pretending to be a pimp and prostitute I watched with amazement. On Saturday my wife sat at puter to see for herself. Busy in another room I could hear the rumbling of the adult’s conversation but what stood out was the unmistakable sound of little kids and the high pitched chatter and muffled squealing that characterizes children at play. That’s...

The other day on this PowerBlog I posted “Learning To Tell The Truth” and ended the article with an observation: It may be instructive to note that the young female reporter who took part in the videos is named Hannah. For Jews the Biblical namesake is one of the prophetesses whose prayer is remembered at Rosh Hashanah [coming soon] and the mother of Samuel. You may recall that Samuel had problems with his succession choices. They weren’t sufficiently obedient to...

Memo to documentary filmmaker Michael Moore: Free markets didn’t cause the financial crisis. The biggest culprits were government planners meddling with the market. That’s the message of Acton’s newest video short. So why on earth is Michael Moore (Capitalism: A Love Story, Sicko) so eager to route even more power and money through Washington? Centralized planning is economic poison. Doubling down isn’t the cure. (Also, Acton’s resource page on the economic crisis is here.) ...

The point has been made by outstanding thinkers like Stephen Carter and Richard John Neuhaus that the New York-Washington, D.C. establishment eats up left wing religion and declares it delicious. Give a radical a cross and we have activists bravely “speaking truth to power” and “speaking prophetically.” Put the cross in the hands of a conservative and suddenly secularism is the better course and church and state must be rigorously separated lest theocracy loom every closer. I tried to draw...

If it doesn’t faze you that Uncle Sam badly mishandled the stimulus porkanazaCongress would have directed bazillions to a surreally corrupt Acorn but for these two young heroesMichael Moore’s Sicko is WackoCanadians will no longer have a free market healthcare system to flee toGovernment-run health care will look and smell and feel like the Department of Motor Vehicles … with sharp needles and bedpansIf none of this has convinced you that a government-run healthcare system is a bad idea, then...

Today is Constitution Day in the United States. It seems appropriate to remember especially this day the 10th Amendment to the Constitution: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. What a wonderful expression of federalism, ponent feature of which is the concept of subsidiarity, or rather, coordinated and variegated sovereignty. Lord Acton said that federalism “is the best curb...

While the Samaritan Award is on hiatus for 2009, be sure to check out WORLD Magazine’s Hope Award for Effective Compassion. WORLD is profiling nine finalists for the award, continuing the “Profiles in Effective Compassion” series began by highlighting Samaritan Award finalists in 2006. ...

Just about every state has dealt with the issue over the last few years, it seems. But here in Ohio, the legal status of gambling is the issue that won’t go away. It’s on the ballot again in November, this time as a constitutional amendment to permit casinos in four cities. The issue is something of a dilemma for Christians with limited-government inclinations. In general we don’t want prohibitions on legitimate business activity or entertainment, and most Christians don’t consider...

Well, at least the book is, anyway. The End of Secularism is now in stock at Acton.org and should be available in stores, too. Help me, faithful readers. I don’t think I’ll disappoint you. Francis Beckwith, David Dockery, Russell Moore, Father Robert Sirico, Herb London, Jennifer Morse Roback, and Glenn Stanton all liked it. I hope you will, too. Did you get the best part, by the way? FATHER ROBERT SIRICO. Here is his take on the book: The task...