“North Korea –Pyongyang” by Stephan (CC BY-SA 2.0) Update: The full interview is now available online. — What’s going on in North Korea? The First Issue of Religion & Liberty in 2017 will explore this question in depth. The main feature will be an interview with Suzanne Scholte, president of the Defense Forum Foundation. She has spent the last two decades fighting for the freedom, human rights, and dignity of the North Korean People and is considered one of the...

Note: This is the fourthin a weekly series of explanatory posts on the officials and agencies included in the President’s Cabinet. See the series introduction here. Cabinet position: Secretary of Education Department: U.S. Department of Education Current Secretary: Betsy DeVos Succession: The Secretary of Education is fifteenth in the presidential line of succession. Department Mission: “[Education Department’s] mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for petitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. Congress established the U.S. Department...

An invitation to American and Canadian college faculty: Acton is currently offering mini-grants for course development and academic projects in free market economics at colleges and universities. The purpose of these mini-grants is to promote free market economic scholarship on college campuses (in the U.S. and Canada). If you are a current U.S. or Canadian college or university faculty member or know any college faculty interested in promoting the free market on campus, you are encouraged to apply or pass...

While it took Vice President Mike Pence casting the deciding vote, Betsy DeVos was confirmed earlier today as the Secretary of Education. The opposition to DeVos was vehement, and based on a number of objections to her getting the job. But a primary reason why she was deemed by many to be unacceptable was her unwavering support for school vouchers programs. School vouchers—which are often conflated with the broader term “school choice”—are certificates issued by the government, which parents can...

As Americans face increasing pressures of economic change and uncertainty, many have relished in a range of renewed nostalgias, whether recallingthe blissful security of post-war industrialism or therise of the Great Society and the prowess of the administrative state. Meanwhile, economic progress continues at a break-neck pace. Indeed, as politicians attempt to prevent or subvert economic change by squabbling over wage minimums, salary caps, trade barriers, and a host of regulatory fixings, entrepreneurs and innovators are accelerating with a subversion...

In an age of sound bite orations and 140-character manifestos, the nation received a rare treat from CNN this week. On Tuesday night, Senators Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders debated the merits of national healthcare reform for two hours. The format gave both sides the opportunity to make substantive arguments, and Ted Cruz did not disappoint. The Texan pointed out that Senator Sanders, an advocate of Scandinavian socialism, has suggested the United States adopt policies more akin to European welfare...

“People Near Train Station” by Redd Angelo (CC0 1.0) In a recent article, Kishore Jayablan of Istituto Acton addresses the controversy surrounding the Vatican’s invitation to Paul Ehrlich, a known population control activist and the author of the 1968 book The Population Bomb.He was invited for a conference on “biological extinction.” Jayabalan finds this situation troubling: … the Pontifical Academies for Science and Social Sciences are giving a platform not just to bad economics but blatantly anti-Catholic, immoral social policies....

The Senate today narrowly voted for a change in the status quo, and that is an answer to the prayers of millions of parents who have witnessed a steady plummet of their respective children’s test scores over the past few decades. Something, anything, someone had to happen to alter the downward trajectory of education of our nation’s youth. That someone is Betsy DeVos. Full disclosure: Betsy DeVos is a former board member of the Acton Institute. She and her family...

On this edition of Radio Free Acton, we’re joined by Judge Joseph Scoville, former United States magistrate judge for the western district of Michigan, to review the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the United States Supreme Court. We examine the qualifications and judicial philosophy of Judge Gorsuch, and address the question of whether or not the left is correct to accuse Republicans of “stealing” the seat from President Obama. Additionally, we start...

While money’s purpose is to serve as a medium of exchange, this is not its only function. Samuel Gregg, in an article for Witherspoon Institute’s Public Discourse, defines the purpose of money and finance, in general, as well as its ability to serve the economy of the people. This is where it finds its good. In this article, Gregg is concerned with the ethics of money in our modern capitalist climate and finding policy solutions to utilize money ethically, as...