If there is anything that we have learned over the past five years of political turmoil in Western countries, it is that large numbers of people across the political spectrum are increasingly dissatisfied with the workings of modern democracy. These trends reflect, as numerous surveys illustrate, deep distrust of established political parties and, more particularly, those individuals whose careers amount to a series of revolving doors between elected office, government service, the academy, and politically-connected businesses. What’s often missing from...

Millions of people within our country are experiencing extreme social isolation and loneliness. In a time defined by a pandemic and lockdowns, one would naturally expect people to feel this way, being cut off from family, friends, and neighbors. In actuality, the coronavirus has just exacerbated an existing pandemic that had been plaguing the United States for many years: a broad cultural trend of increased social isolation and alienation. Long before the coronavirus started, large segments of our society were...

Amid the economic pain and disruption of COVID-19, much public attention has focused on the growing assortment of government interventions—from ever-increasing rules and regulations, to direct economic relief, to a mix of price controls and “stimulus” programs. Yet as governments continue their attempts at stabilizing the situation, we observe many solutions arising elsewhere. Across the economy and society, inventors, entrepreneurs, and workers are continuing to innovate and explore—reimagining their industries and businesses to address new constraints and meet human needs...

Perhaps nowhere is the disconnect between private citizens’ views and those of the government clearer than when es to the role of religion in society. Acton Institute President and Co-founder Rev. Robert A. Sirico told a nationally syndicated radio program that state orders that effectively ban clergy from caring for sick patients represent “the marginalization of religion as a non-essential service,” and this “flies in the face of our entire history as an American republic.” “Who knows best what is...