government

March 19, 2015

3 reasons to oppose mandatory voting

While speaking in Cleveland yesterday President Obama came out in favor of making voting in elections compulsory: In Australia and some other countries, there’s mandatory voting. It would be transformative if everybody voted — that would counteract money more than anything. Continue Reading...

March 04, 2015

No Faith-Based Case for FCC’s Net Neutrality Power Grab

“What could possibly go wrong with a regulatory power grab by a government agency applying an 80-year-old law to the most dynamic and innovative aspect of the world’s economy?” asks Bruce Edward Walker in this week’s Acton Commentary. Continue Reading...

March 02, 2015

Defend the Rule of Law, Not Judicial Supremacy

One of the core principles of the Acton Institute is the importance of the rule of law: “The government’s primary responsibility is to promote the common good, that is, to maintain the rule of law, and to preserve basic duties and rights.” Continue Reading...

February 09, 2015

What Happened to the Bill of Rights?

When the Founding Fathers were drafting the U.S. Constitution, they didn’t initially consider adding a Bill of Rights to protect citizens because it was deemed unnecessary. It was only after the Constitution’s supporters realized such a bill was essential to getting approved by the states that they proposed enumerating such rights in twelve amendments. Continue Reading...

January 29, 2015

The Government Is Hungry: Detroit and ‘The Grapes of Wrath’

Detroit home owners are being put out of their homes, but it’s not because of bankers. Then by who? It’s the Detroit city government seeking to collect back real estate taxes. Continue Reading...

January 02, 2015

Is Putin an Orthodox Jihadist?

What should Westerners make of Vladimir Putin? Some view the Russian president as a type of Western democratic politician while others think he is shaped by Chekism, the idea that the secret political police control (or should control) everything in society. Continue Reading...

August 13, 2014

The politicization of life and death and what it means

Many people once viewed politics merely as a form entertainment. We could all collectively laugh at the likes of Edwin Edwards even if he was notoriously corrupt. Many folks in Louisiana embraced the former governor for his antics and not merely for his ability to fix every problem in the state. Continue Reading...

August 12, 2014