Year: 2012

November 19, 2012

Why Can’t We Fire Bad Teachers?

Timothy Dalrymple wonders whether education reform should be one of the great objectives for American Christians in the twenty-first century. Taking up that cause will require overcoming the intransigence of the teachers’ unions: Try firing an ineffective teacher.   Continue Reading...
November 16, 2012

Is the Fiscal ‘Cliff’ Just a Bump in the Road?

Over at Think Christian I take a look at the looming fiscal “cliff,” which we are being told from every conceivable quarter represents a significant danger to America’s fragile economic recovery: But apart from the numbers themselves, the framing of the issue by politicians and pundits ought to give us pause. Continue Reading...
November 15, 2012

Is the Bail System Inherently Unjust?

Prepping for the joint Acton/Liberty Fund sponsored conference that begins tonight: Religion & Liberty: Acton and Tocqueville, part of Acton’s Liberty and Markets program, I came across the following thought-provoking quote from Alexis de Tocqueville: The civil and criminal legislation of the Americans knows only two means of action: prison or bail. Continue Reading...
November 15, 2012

Registration Now Open for 2013 AU

The Acton Institute is pleased to announce that registration is now open for the 2013 Acton University (AU), which will take place on June 18-21 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Space and scholarship funds are limited – so register or apply now! Continue Reading...
November 15, 2012

Want to Lower Poverty Rates? Increase Entrepreneurship

The Goldwater Institute has released a new study showing that states with a larger share of entrepreneurs do a better job at reducing poverty than states with fewer entrepreneurs. There is a strong connection between a state’s rate of entrepreneurship and declines in poverty. Continue Reading...
November 14, 2012

The Contending Realities of Progressive Economics

We need to trim government programs today in order make way for bigger government tomorrow. That seems to be the message former treasury secretary and Obama economic advisor Larry Summers delivered today at the Washington Ideas Forum: “If we want to have the same kind of society we always had…you may see some upward drift in government,” he said. Continue Reading...
November 14, 2012

Acton Commentary: The LBJ Curse on the Black Vote

Anthony Bradley, commenting on the preference black voters showed for President Obama, points out that Lyndon Baines Johnson’s War on Poverty policies “introduced perverse incentives against saving money, starting businesses, getting married, and they discouraged fathers from being physically and emotionally present for their children — resulting in generational welfare dependence — black voters are lured to choose dependence over liberation.” Continue Reading...