Acton Institute Powerblog Archives

Post Tagged 'John Adams'

March 04, 2025

French Laïcité vs. American Secularism

On August 31, 2023, the French Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports issued a statement titled “Respect of Republican Values” (Respect des Valeurs de la République), forbidding pupils to wear the abaya in public schools throughout the national territory. Continue Reading...
October 17, 2018

The Spanish tradition of freedom in the 16th and 17th centuries

The following article is written by Angel Fernández Álvarez and translated by Joshua Gregor. This October 31, I will give a conference entitled The Spanish School of the XVI and XVII Centuries at Harvard University, in order to explain in detail the “institutional framework” and the principles of growth upheld by the late Spanish scholastics. Continue Reading...
August 14, 2014

Freedom of the Press and the Free Society

In a time when U.S. journalism too often feels dominated by infotainment on television and blog/opinion pseudo-news in print and on the internet, it is sad to see instances of real journalism, seeking to act as a check on corruption in the public sphere, being suppressed by that very corruption. Continue Reading...
February 13, 2013

Samuel Gregg: An Alternate Reality State of the Union Address

On National Review Online, Acton Research Director Samuel Gregg reflects on President Obama’s State of the Union address last night, and flags the “reality-denial” that is expressed by “a few token references to free enterprise and rewarding individual initiative (to reassure us we’re still living in America instead of just another declining European social democracy).” Continue Reading...
February 11, 2013

Historian David McCullough on Work and the Pursuit of Happiness

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough is author of popular biographies such as Truman and John Adams, and at 79 years old, he’s still going strong. When asked by Harvard Business Review whether he is ready to retire, McCullough offered some interesting perspective on how he views his work through the American founders’ understanding of the “pursuit of happiness” (HT): I can’t wait to get out of bed every morning. Continue Reading...
October 05, 2011

Class Warriors for Big Government

My commentary this week addresses the demonstrations in New York and in other cities against free enterprise and business. One of the main points I make in this piece is that “lost in the debate is the fundamental purpose of American government and the importance of virtue and a benevolent society.” Continue Reading...