Rev. Ben Johnson (@therightswriter) is an Eastern Orthodox priest and served as Executive Editor of the Acton Institute (2016-2021), editing Religion & Liberty, the Powerblog, and its transatlantic website. He has extensively researched the Alt-Right. Previously, he worked for LifeSiteNews and FrontPageMag.com, where he wrote three books including Party of Defeat (with David Horowitz, 2008). His work has appeared at DailyWire.com, National Review, The American Spectator, The Guardian, Daily Caller, National Catholic Register, Spectator USA, FEE Online, RealClear Policy, The Blaze, The Stream, American Greatness, Aleteia, Providence Magazine, Charisma, Jewish World Review, Human Events, Intellectual Takeout, CatholicVote.org, Issues & Insights, The Conservative, Rare.us, and The American Orthodox Institute. His personal websites are therightswriter.com and RevBenJohnson.com. His views are his own.
Posts by Rev. Ben Johnson
October 03, 2017
Even most critics admit the free market is the greatest wealth-generating system in history, but they say the poor benefit more from interventionist economic systems. In fact, economic liberty elevates the least well-off in more
laissez-faire nations to a better position than those living in unfree economies based on such factors as average income, life expectancy, literacy, and other forms of personal liberty.
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October 02, 2017
Voters who took part in yesterday’s national 1-0 referendum overwhelmingly supported Catalonia’s independence from Spain, and images of the Spanish National Police brutally suppressing the election have flooded the international media.
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September 29, 2017
In the public imagination, Lord Acton is often restricted to his ubiquitous aphorism about power and corruption. This is a pity, as the nineteenth century essayist, historian, and parliamentarian held wide-ranging views about liberty as well-developed as they were penetrating.
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September 28, 2017
The Fraser Institute released its annual “Economic Freedom of the World” report this morning. The free market think tank rates every nation based on its “degree of freedom in five broad areas”:
Area 1:Size of Government—As spending and taxation by government, and the size of government-controlled enterprises increase, government decision-making is substituted for individual choice and economic freedom is reduced.
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September 27, 2017
“If a man does not work, neither shall he eat,” wrote the Apostle Paul in the New Testament. But what if your vocation demands that you own nothing and spend much of your time in contemplation of ethereal mysteries?
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September 26, 2017
“Today, populism is a global plague.” However, a thought-leader who played a pivotal role in weakening populism in Europe has shared the antidote in a speech to the European Liberty Forum in Budapest.
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September 25, 2017
On Sunday, German voters cast their ballots for members of the national parliament, the Bundestag, and Angela Merkel appears poised to serve a fourth term as chancellor. But with a much-diminished number of supporters, fierce populist opposition, and warring coalition allies, her tenure could prove tenuous.
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September 22, 2017
The only force greater than the destruction wrought by this summer’s hellish hurricanes is the solidarity written indelibly upon the human heart. The acts of charity they galvanize show the power of voluntary efforts springing from voluntarism, virtue, and compassion.
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September 20, 2017
The scenario is familiar: Ontario has passed legislation to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, and a new report warns that could increase unemployment. Significant evidence reinforces concerns that this well-intentioned change will harm the poor.
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September 18, 2017
To be good citizens, faithful people must examine policies’ results, not just their intentions. One overly intrusive environmentalist policy alone has prevented the poor from accessing adequate housing and, ironically, reduced the diversity of the environment.
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