Bernie Sanders’ reflexive defense of Marxist dictators has raised concerns literally left and right. Democrats on the considerable space to his right worry that Sanders’ apologies will cost them the election, while leftists worry his rhetoric will cause people to equate socialism with tyranny. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, socialists have done all they can to encourage a social amnesia about the crimes of Marxism. Academia and the media have been happy to oblige. However, as Sanders said...

Reducing food insecurity and improving overall nutrition continue to be key priorities in the fight to alleviate poverty, particularly given the continued rise of diseases like diabetes and their increased prevalence among e and disadvantaged populations. Among the proposed solutions, few are more prominent than the goal of reducing “food deserts”—a term for neighborhoods that lack traditional grocery stores or affordable and nutritious food options. Given that more than half of e neighborhoods fall in this category, it’s a worthwhile...

With Great Lakes water levels set to go to new highs this summer, and the spectacle of more beach homes toppling into the lakes, we’re now being subjected to the inevitable photo ops and speech making from politicians promising to just do something about it. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) puts the blame on global warming. “The biggest problem is that we should’ve been acting earlier on the question of how the atmosphere is changing and holding more precipitation, and all...

Bernie Sanders faced political crossfire during the debate in South Carolina on Tuesday night, some of it because he lavished praise on Communist dictators in Cuba, Russia, and Latin America. This week’s Acton Commentary, “The key to understanding Bernie Sanders,” details his history of moral equivalence between Marxist dictators and Western democracies – and explains the socialist reasoning that fuels it. “This specious moral reasoning rings a deep, discordant bell among all those who encountered or are conversant with the...

A particularly harmful Obama-era labor rule, designed to fill union coffers while harming small business owners, ing to an end. In a rule to be published tomorrow, the National Labor Relations Board mon sense and balances the scales of justice. The NLRB rule rejects union demands that the national headquarters of a franchise be punished for labor mitted by local franchisees. The trigger came when local McDonald’s owners allegedly fired employees trying to unionize their workforce. The NLRB ruled plaints...

I recently flew from Grand Rapids to Los Angeles on Delta. With the exception of some extra frisky TSA agents here in Michigan, the experience was largely positive. My flights were on time, the crew was helpful, and the planes were clean and well equipped. Even for those of us sitting in the back, the seating fortable. Bonus—I had a whole row to myself on the trip home! All of this got me thinking about a news article that blipped...

Sixty-two miles north of Grand Rapids, MI sits the village of Mecosta with a population of only 450. Right off Main Street, tucked away in an arbor of oaks and ferns, stands a large brick house. Here, what was once a furniture repair shop has now e a home and a haven for conservative study and discourse. This is the home of Annette and Russell Kirk. Russell Amos Kirk was born in 1918 in Plymouth, MI. He set out to...

“That is never going to amount to anything. Don’t waste your time.” This was my initial reaction when our Tanzanian director told me about the first savings groups she had seen in action, almost 15 years ago. “But Scott,” she said, “it is so wonderful to see the women each save 25 cents a week in a metal box.” To me, 25 cents a week barely seemed worth saving. But I have been proven wrong many times since then. The...

If you’ve traveled to Washington, D.C., before, it’s likely that you’ve flown through Washington Dulles International Airport, named after President Eisenhower’s Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles. In fact, more than 60,000 people travel through Dulles airport every day, but not many people know much about its namesake. John Foster Dulles served in the early years of the Cold War and pursued a vigorous foreign policy meant to isolate and undermine international, expansionist Communism. Undergirding his foreign policy was mitment...

In the wake of modernity, we’ve seen plenty of disruption across American life—political, social, economic, and otherwise. Alongside the glorious expansion of freedom and prosperity, we’ve also seen new waves of fragmentation, isolation, and materialism—a “liberal paradox,” as Gaylen Byker once described it, “a hunger for meaning and values in an age of freedom and plenty.” Throughout America’s history, disruptive progress has traditionally been buoyed by the strength of various institutions. Yet the religious munity vibrancy that Alexis de Tocqueville...