Acton Institute Powerblog Archives

Post Tagged 'alexis de tocqueville'

November 15, 2012

Is the Bail System Inherently Unjust?

Prepping for the joint Acton/Liberty Fund sponsored conference that begins tonight: Religion & Liberty: Acton and Tocqueville, part of Acton’s Liberty and Markets program, I came across the following thought-provoking quote from Alexis de Tocqueville: The civil and criminal legislation of the Americans knows only two means of action: prison or bail. Continue Reading...
November 09, 2012

Going ‘Forward’ or ‘Backward’? Interview with Prof. Nicola Iannello about U.S. Elections

I recently talked to one of Italy’s leading classical liberal scholars, Prof. Nicola Iannello, regarding the outcome of this week’s U.S. presidential elections.   Prof. Iannello, a devotee of classical liberalism and Alexis de Tocqueville, is an Italian journalist, international lecturer with Istituto Bruno Leoni, and chair of the Einaudi Foundation’s Austrian School of Economics course for Roman university students. Continue Reading...
September 19, 2012

Samuel Gregg: Mitt de Tocqueville

Writing in National Review Online, Acton Research Director Samuel Gregg weighs in on Mitt Romney’s remarks about the “47 percent”: Ever since the modern welfare state was founded (by none other than that great “champion” of freedom Otto von Bismarck as he sought, unsuccessfully, to persuade industrial workers to stop voting for the German Social Democrats), Western politicians have discovered that welfare programs and subsidies more generally are a marvelous way of creating constituencies of people who are likely to keep voting for you as long as you keep delivering the goods. Continue Reading...
June 08, 2012

The Dangers of Democratic Tyranny

In the context of commentary on protests like those in Quebec and the Occupy movement more broadly, it’s worth reflecting on the dangers of democratic tyranny. The “people” can be tyrannical just as an individual sovereign or an oligarchy might. Continue Reading...
May 25, 2012

New Journal of Markets & Morality Website

Today marks the official launch of the new and improved website for the Journal of Markets & Morality. In addition to the new design, we also have included a search feature whereby anyone who wants can search back issues for keywords, authors, names, and so on. Continue Reading...
April 05, 2012

Who Keeps the Keepers?

Sam Gregg’s response to President Obama’s latest invocation of the “my brother’s keeper” motif brings out one of the basic problems with applying this biblical question to public policy. As Gregg points out, the logic of the president’s usage points to the government as the institution of brotherly love: But who is the “I” that President Obama has in mind? Continue Reading...
April 03, 2012

Samuel Gregg: So Who Is Our Keeper, Mr. President?

On National Review Online, Acton Research Director Samuel Gregg discusses remarks made by President Barack Obama at a March 30 campaign stop at the University of Vermont. From the White House transcript of the speech, here is some of what the president said: The American story is not just about what we do on our own. Continue Reading...