Limited Government

June 21, 2018

What can I possibly (and practically) do to help fight human rights violations?

My head is swimming with thoughts, my heart filled with emotion, and my coffee is getting cold next to me. I opened my social media this morning and no matter where I go, all my feeds are bursting with news of violations of human rights and dignity taking place in all corners of the globe – far away and right next door. Continue Reading...

May 14, 2018

Justice Scalia explains why the ‘living Constitution’ is a threat to America

A majority of Americans—55 percent—now say the U.S. Supreme Court should base its rulings on what the Constitution “means in current times,” while only 41 percent say rulings should be based on what it “meant as originally written,” according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center. Continue Reading...

April 23, 2018

The decline of Western civilization, redux

A review of Suicide of the West: How the Rebirth of Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics Is Destroying American Democracy by Jonah J. Goldberg, Crown Forum, 2018, 442 pp., $28. Suicide of the West is intended as a “serious” work, which it is indeed. Continue Reading...

January 19, 2018

Why government is not just a necessary evil

In the Federalist Papers James Madison claimed that, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” But is that true? James R. Rogers, an associate professor of political science at Texas A&M University, explains why some form of government would be necessary even if man were still in a prelapsarian state of nature: [E]ven without the Fall, there would be a role for civil government for the duly recognized person who exercises civil authority. Continue Reading...

November 20, 2017

Start-up nations: Are ‘floating cities’ a frontier for freedom?

From the mega-church municipalities of Nigeria to the ”private cities” of India, swaths of entrepreneurial pioneers are responding to the challenges of urbanization and political disorder with new approaches to governance and community transformation. Continue Reading...

October 31, 2017

China’s ‘Social Credit System’: When dystopian fiction becomes reality

Growing up, I was fascinated with authors such as Ayn Rand, Aldous Huxley, Lois Lowry, George Orwell, and others who developed dystopian worlds through their writing. Reading their works was a fun way to explore the extremes that our society would never become. Continue Reading...

October 25, 2017

Jerry Pournelle, Russell Kirk Conservative: RIP

Jerry Pournelle passed away in early September and is memorialized in this week’s “Upstream” segment of the Radio Free Acton podcast. An accomplished man in many fields in both the public and private sectors, he perhaps is best known as the author and co-author of a shelf-full of science-fiction novels. Continue Reading...

October 09, 2017

How Christopher Columbus helped bring the School of Salamanca to the Americas

Every Columbus Day gives rise to endless debates and recriminations over the impact of Christopher Columbus’ expedition upon the indigenous peoples of the Americas. No honest observer can dismiss the injustices perpetrated after Columbus’ landing (nor before it), but one benefit of his voyage has been forgotten: It inadvertently exposed the Americas to the School of Salamanca. Continue Reading...

July 19, 2017

Crisis in Europe calls for a ‘creative minority’

Recently at Acton University, Samuel Gregg opened his lecture “Benedict XVI and the Crisis of Europe” by diving into the etymology of “crisis.” It comes from the Greek word krisis, which marks the point at which an illness has reached its peak. Continue Reading...

July 07, 2017

Opening the American city: Toward a new urban agenda

In the mid-20th-century, American cities suffered a wave of violent crime and poverty, due in part to shifts in the economy and public policy, as well as mass suburbanization. Yet in recent decades, those same cities are experiencing somewhat of a renewal. Continue Reading...

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