Latest Posts

November 17, 2022

Jimmy Lai Pushes to Halt National Security Trial

Mere days after bringing a veteran British litigator on his legal team, jailed Hong Kong entrepreneur Jimmy Lai is moving to halt the trial proceedings entirely. In a pretrial interview, the 74-year-old Lai came before three National Security judges to review the charges brought against him. Continue Reading...
November 17, 2022

The Collapse of a Cryptocurrency Guru

At the beginning of the year, I wrote a piece for Acton on Elizabeth Holmes, the con artist behind Theranos, the fake tech startup promising a revolution in blood tests and, thus, the beginning of a solution to the problem of healthcare costs. Continue Reading...
November 10, 2022

Who Decides What Books Your Child Should Read?

At its best, a democratic polity ought to deal well with complexity, this complexity composed of clashing ideas and principles as well as the interests of multiple actors and stakeholders. Such a polity will seek proximate solutions that require constant fine-tuning. Continue Reading...
November 09, 2022

Is There an Argument for Anarchy?

Almost two-thirds of Americans believe that distrust of government is a major barrier to solving issues in public life. As we witness a marked decline of faith in both the government and the stability of our democracy, some are arguing that it’s the perfect time to take a serious look at the historic libertarian premise: Maybe government itself is the problem. Continue Reading...
November 08, 2022

House of the Dragon Is Nihilism for Teens

I recently wrote about what has come of Disney, whose new Pinocchio seems to be all about getting rid of morality as we have understood it. Instead of learning that actions have consequences and how to behave with a view to growing up, children are supposed to be flattered until they get into trouble, and then further flattered by being told that the rest of the world is causing their problems. Continue Reading...
November 03, 2022

China’s Future Is Not Fixed

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) held its 20th national congress to chart its future direction and anoint Xi Jinping as leader-for-life. At least that’s what Xi plans. Xi lauded his record, which, he insisted, has “ensured that the party will never change in quality, change its color, or change its flavor.” Continue Reading...