Whatever the e of the 2020 presidential race, liberty won numerous victories – and suffered a handful of setbacks – in state referendums nationwide. Voters in both “blue” and “red” states endorsed policies to advance individual initiative, limit government overreach, and establish equal justice under the law. However, they also voted for higher taxes on tobacco and a $15-an-hour minimum wage. Here is a state-by-state look at several of the most important results. California: The nation’s most populous state decided...

This election is the final proof we didn’t need that the Republican Party of 2020 is truly the party of Donald Trump. He remade the party in imago Trumpi. As a result of his ascent within the party, many conservative ideas are ideologically homeless. Though Trump continues to cite legal challenges, Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States. This will undeniably change Republican pared to the last four years. But instead of mourning Trump’s loss, conservatives...

I was honored to be a guest on the Faithful Economics podcast, sponsored by the Association of Christian Economists (which also publishes the journal Faith & Economics). I joined host Steven McMullen of Hope College to talk about the dialogue between theology and economics. Here’s a description of the episode, along with some links for further reading: This episode features a conversation with Jordan Ballor, a senior research fellow at the Acton Institute. We take a deep dive into the...

In January 1862, Frederick Douglass, a former slave who became America’s greatest sociopolitical prophet of the nineteenth century, declared that America was facing Armageddon. “The fate of the greatest of all Modern Republics trembles in the balance.” God was in control of the nations, and America was particularly a subject of His providence. “We are taught as with the emphasis of an earthquake,” Douglass told his listeners at Philadelphia’s National Hall, “that nations, not less than individuals, are subjects of...

When es to elections, my preference is for an “ideas person” – someone who can articulate a vision for political and economic liberty, a constitutionalist, someone with a moral outlook informed by faith and advocacy for small government. I am usually disappointed. Ideas people are rarely elected – in the UK, the last such example was Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister from 1979-1990. She understood that, in the same way that a household must balance its budget, so too must...

Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the former Chief Rabbi of the UK and a member of the House of Lords, passed away early on the morning of Saturday, November 7, 2020, following his third bout with cancer. He was 72 years old. Rabbi Sacks, who was knighted in 2005, authored more than two dozen books and recorded the “Thought for the Day” broadcast on BBC’s Radio 4. The rabbi, who won the 2016 Templeton Prize, was buried on Sunday according to...

Whether rooting for Joe Biden or Donald Trump, all Americans should hope for a peaceful transfer of power on January 20. While the U.S. has historically enjoyed peaceful transfers, many pundits have predicted scenarios of uncertainty after the election. A peaceful e is endangered by forces both on the Right and the Left. For one half of the nation, a Biden win would spell disaster, while for the other half, a Trump win would initiate the five stages of grief....

Native Californians used to tell ers to the state a little joke: “Of course, California has four seasons: earthquake, brushfire, mudslide, and drought.” Alas, that dark humor is too accurate to be funny anymore. Progressive environmental policies have so deleteriously impacted the state’s ability to manage its infrastructure and husband its bounteous resources that the Golden State is withering brown. California was once our richest and most beautiful state. It became the nation’s most populous, because it was a land...

With 48 hours to go before the 2020 election, the Biden campaign unveiled a rare, cogent glimpse into its philosophy and plans should it prevail. Naturally, it did e from Joe Biden but from an animated video narrated by Kamala Harris titled “Equality vs. Equity.” The ticket made the unusual decision to close its campaign by taking a firm stance against equality. On Sunday, Harris tweeted out a video showing a white mountain climber beginning well above a black mountain...

Listen to politicians or cable news, and you will get the impression that economics is merely a thin veil for partisanship, the greatest mercenary discipline for justifying any policy. You can seemingly find at least one economist to agree with you; liberal economists favor liberal policies, while conservative economists favor conservative policies. While there are certainly some economists who make their discipline mercenary to politics, there is a surprising amount of agreement within the discipline. Jay Richards makes the case...