History

August 28, 2019

Michael Novak and the ‘crisis of capitalism’

Jordan Ballor recently brought to my attention this remarkable passage from Michael Novak’s The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism, “Our moral and cultural traditions have not kept pace with our economic possibilities. Continue Reading...

August 28, 2019

Drucker on the ‘master organization’ and the totalitarian conceit

This is the fourth in a series of essays on Peter Drucker’s early works. It was sometimes said of fascists that they “made the trains run on time.” In The End of Economic Man, Peter Drucker saw that fascists “proved” their fitness through effective organization. Continue Reading...

August 22, 2019

The nation in arms: Drucker on government’s ultimate tool for social control

This is the third in a series of essays on Peter Drucker’s early works. As I explained in an earlier post, Drucker recognized that fascists were able to take advantage of the dissatisfaction that many experience in a society dominated by money. Continue Reading...

August 19, 2019

Scholars discover Locke manuscript arguing for the toleration of Catholics

Kimberly Uslin reports on the discovery of a of previously unknown manuscript by the philosopher John Locke at the Greenfield Library at St. John’s College: According to Walmsley and Waldmann, this was the first major discovery of new work by Locke in a generation. Continue Reading...

August 02, 2019

Why has the West’s integration of reason and faith fallen apart? An interview with Samuel Gregg

Pathologies of reason and faith have greatly affected history. Pathologies of reason are defined by an abandonment of God in search of truth, resulting in a prioritization of empirical data and the natural sciences to gain knowledge. Continue Reading...

July 26, 2019

Edmund Burke on true freedom

In the United States, a growing number of Americans, especially young Americans, are calling for extreme personal autonomy in the guise of “freedom,” while promoting increased government control and coercion. The left, for example, defends radical pro-abortion laws motivated by a desire for personal autonomy. Continue Reading...

July 23, 2019

How ideologues devalue and dismiss economics

Economics is often dismissed as ideological, reductionist, and mendacious. In the United States we see these criticisms increasingly from both the political left and right. This should come as no surprise as the lessons of economics have implications for the prudential decisions that make up much of our political life. Continue Reading...

July 10, 2019

Who’s an Old Whig?

“Old Whig” isn’t a political term that trips off the tongue these days. The phrase itself was coined by Edmund Burke in his August 1791 pamphlet An Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs in which he sought to explain to some of his erstwhile colleagues why his rejection of the French Revolution was entirely consistent with Whig principles rather than a betrayal. Continue Reading...

July 10, 2019

The amazing story of how Albanians helped American GIs escape to freedom

I was working at Acton University in June, helping speakers with their audio/visual needs in the lecture rooms, when I was approached by conference attendee I had never met before. His name was Clinton W. Continue Reading...

July 05, 2019

Alejandro Chafuen in Forbes: Arthur Laffer’s Medal of Freedom

On June 19, President Trump awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to economist Arthur Laffer, noted as a proponent of supply-side economics and famous for the concept of the “Laffer curve,” which states that taxes will not increase revenue if they rise beyond a certain level. Continue Reading...

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