Acton Institute Powerblog

Promoting free societies characterized by liberty & religious principles

Search results for "Tocqueville"
August 18, 2009

Socialism in America

A great deal has been made in recent weeks about Ronald Reagan‘s critique of nationalized or socialized health care from 1961: We can go back a bit further, though, and take a look at an intriguing piece from 1848, a dialogue on socialism and the French Revolution and the relationship of socialism to democracy, which includes Alexis de Tocqueville‘s critique of socialism in general. Continue Reading...
May 08, 2009

PBR: Only as Good as the People

What’s wrong with populism? Nothing, necessarily. But, to hazard a tautology, populism is only as good as the people. I think this territory was covered pretty well by Alexis de Tocqueville, whose view was in turn covered pretty well by Sam Gregg in his commentary of a couple weeks ago: “The American Republic,” Tocqueville wrote, “will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.” Continue Reading...
April 22, 2009

Acton Commentary: “Despotism – The Soft Way”

Sam Gregg marks the 150th anniversary of the death of Alexis de Tocqueville whose great work “Democracy in America” warned about the dangers of a comfortable servility. “The American Republic,” Tocqueville wrote, “will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.” Continue Reading...
August 22, 2008

Journal of Markets & Morality, Volume 11, Issue 1

With this issue of the Journal of Markets & Morality, we introduce a new semi-regular feature section, the Status Quaestionis. Conceived as a complement to our Scholia, the Status Quaestionis features are intended to help us grasp in a more thorough and comprehensive way the state of the scholarly landscape with regard to the modern intersection between religion and economics. Continue Reading...
June 10, 2008

Acton U. this week in Grand Rapids

“ … what is virtue if not the free choice of what is good?” — Alexis de Tocqueville Acton University, the four-day exploration of the intellectual foundations of a free society, opens today in Grand Rapids. Continue Reading...
April 03, 2008

Traditions in a globalized age

Yesterday I enjoyed a stimulating presentation of Harvard Law Professor and current U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Mary Ann Glendon’s new Italian-language collection of essays, Tradizioni in Subbuglio (Traditions in Turmoil). Continue Reading...