Acton Institute Powerblog Archives

Post Tagged 'coercion'

Cooperation vs. coercion amid COVID-19

As the COVID-19 crisis rolls on, many of America’s governors have continued to impose, extend or add new restrictions to stay-at-home orders, leading to increasingly arbitrary rule-making and growing criticism over the prudence and practicality of such measures. Continue Reading...

Minimum wage, minimum liberty

Taking their cue from Seattle, cities and states are implementing minimum wage increases all over the country. Late last year, voters in Washington approved an increase in the statewide minimum wage that will raise it to $13.50 per hour by 2020. Continue Reading...

We need a more Spock-like politics

James Hodgkinson opened fire on a group of congressmen after ascertaining they were Republicans. He wounded several people and was killed himself by Capitol police, who were present to protect House Whip Steve Scalise. Continue Reading...

A Testimony of Conscience and Conviction in the Workplace

Hands On Originals is a small printing company in Lexington, Kentucky, that, up until recently, had very few problems when they declined to print a certain message. Last year, however, the owner, Blaine Adamson, was found guilty of discrimination by a Lexington human rights commission for refusing to print T-shirts for a local gay pride festival. Continue Reading...

Uber Cab Driver: ‘I Feel Emancipated’

On-demand ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft are on the rise, allowing smartphone users to request cab drivers with the touch of a button. But though the services are popular with consumers and drivers alike, they’re finding less favor among their taxi-company competitors and the unions and government bureaucrats who protect them. Continue Reading...

The Truth about Force in Reconciliation

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in post-apartheid South Africa has been hailed as the standard for working for restorative justice in the contemporary world. One of the misunderstandings surrounding the work of the commission, however, involves the relationship between the forgiveness, reconciliation, and amnesty offered by the commission in relation to the coercive power of the state. Continue Reading...

Speaking of Milton Friedman…

Speaking of Milton Friedman, here’s a link to a paper that looks interesting: “Transcendental Commitments of Economists: Friedman, Knight, and Nef” (HT: Organizations and Markets). Acton president Robert A. Sirico’s reflection on Friedman’s legacy last year noted, “Friedman was a true Enlightenment disciple and feared that truth claims could lead to coercion.” Continue Reading...

Coercing charity

This section from Reinhold Niebuhr’s Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics strikes me as quite true: The coercive factors, in distinction to the more purely moral and rational factors, in political relations can never be sharply differentiated and defined. Continue Reading...