Acton Institute Powerblog Archives

Politics

August 12, 2021

Biden defers some Hong Kong deportations, acknowledging human rights crisis under Communist Chinese rule

Hong Kong, once a haven for those seeking to escape the Chinese Communist Party’s iron fist, has seen a rapid deterioration of freedom in recent months. Media and business mogul Jimmy Lai’s arrest and the breakup of his pro-democracy newspaper, Apple Daily, are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the CCP’s forceful decimation of free speech and silencing dissent. Continue Reading...
August 06, 2021

Making community college free has hidden costs

Education is the great equalizer. And a college education is one of the greatest ways to sharpen our unique gifts and talents before entering the workforce. President Joe Biden has proposed offering two years of free community college for any American, but here’s the problem: Making community college “free” guarantees more associates degrees — but it almost certainly won’t translate to a more equitable, high-achieving society. Continue Reading...
July 27, 2021

Healing the broken spirit of California

It’s been barely a month since California reopened, and some counties are already beginning to reinstate mask mandates, even for fully vaccinated residents. This is but the latest pivot in California’s ongoing response to the pandemic, marked by constant bureaucratic whiplash and a flood of social, economic, and political crises. Continue Reading...
July 23, 2021

America suffers from economic nationalism

One of the biggest political upheavals in America over recent years has been a resurgence in economic nationalism. Given the amount of regulation with which it is burdened, America’s economy can hardly be described as laissez-faire. Continue Reading...
July 14, 2021

What is a Christian view of equality?

This year, for the first time in American history, Juneteenth was celebrated as a federal holiday. Upon signing the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, President Joe Biden said that “the emancipation of enslaved Black Americans didn’t mark the end of America’s work to deliver on the promise of equality; it only marked the beginning.” Continue Reading...
June 17, 2021

The moral deficit of inflationary spending

Spending! Relief! Infrastructure Investment! Build Back Better! These are words and sayings that have been bandied about throughout the past year. Anyone with a basic interest in the news cycle is bound to have heard that the federal government has proposed plans to spend trillions of dollars. Continue Reading...
June 16, 2021

The necessity of boring politics

Movie audiences experience high emotional engagement when they identify personally with the characters. The same is true in modern American politics, which increasingly have become treated as a source of social identity and entertainment. Continue Reading...