Brazil’s conservatives mount a counter-revolution

Writing to a friend about his pessimism regarding the future of Western Civilization, Jacob Burckhardt made an interesting observation. The Swiss historian believed that history was not a linear process and that he could see that sometimes that Providence contains some surprises for us. Continue Reading...

Lord Acton vs. the ‘New Socialists’ on Freedom

Corey Robin, professor of political science at Brooklyn College and the City University of New York Graduate Center, wrote an interesting and troubling piece last week in the New York Times titled, “The New Socialists: Why the pitch from Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders resonates in 2018.” Continue Reading...

Video: Rush Limbaugh on clergy who accept socialism

Occasionally, the themes the Acton Institute dedicates itself to proclaiming, in season and out of season, burst into the mainstream. On Monday’s “Rush Limbaugh” program, a female caller was perplexed that too many pulpits preach leftist ideals, which undermine the faith. Continue Reading...

Westminster Abbey praises God for the NHS

Westminster Abbey held a service on Thursday commemorating the 70th anniversary of the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS). At the service Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, said that the “NHS is the most powerful and visible expression of our Christian heritage, because it sprang out of a concern that the poor should be able to be treated as well as the rich.” Continue Reading...

Is economics an ideology?

Richard H. Spady, research professor of Economics at Johns Hopkins, has recently published a piece at First Things entitled ‘Economics as Ideology’ in which he explores some contemporary trends among economists and their use of economics as a Procrustean bed to reshape society in its own image, A body of thought is “ideological” when it will­fully projects its own first principles on its subject matter and actively seeks, perhaps unconsciously, material changes to bring social realities into conformity with these first principles. Continue Reading...