. Sure, times were tough, but at least people were more sensitive and caring. And our government was much better at taking care of people. Not like now when people are losing government hand-outs left and right. No, the days of the Great Depression were good. There was a time in our history when the poor and unemployed experienced a passionate government. During the Great Depression the federal government not only provided safety nets in the form of relief, food...

Brendan Eich, Mozilla co-founder and creator of the JavaScript programming language, was recently appointed as Mozilla’s chief executive. Just one week later, however, he was pressured to resign. His iniquity? Donating $1,000 in support of Proposition 8, a measure whose basic aim was entirely consistent with the beliefs of Barack Obama at the time. To announce Eich’s departure, Mozilla quickly movedto clarify, offering a statement of faithof sorts, filled with all the right Orwellian flourishes: Mozilla believes both in equality...

Cultural progressives often talk about something called “hegemonic masculinity.” By this progressives and feminists mean the standards we use to determine what an ideal man is in a particular culture. Michael Kimmel and Amy Aronson, in The Gendered Society Reader, describe American hegemonic masculinity this way: In an important sense there is only plete unblushing male in America: a young, married, white, urban, northern, heterosexual, Protestant, father, of college education, fully employed, of plexion, weight, and height, and a recent...

There is a lot of talk about “closing the gap” and ing e inequality.” Some of it is pure socialism: Redistribute! Redistribute! Others look for ways to create jobs and help people create new financial opportunities for themselves. But what about the simple gift of friendship? At The American Conservative, Gracy Olmstead suggests that friendship can bridge e gaps, and creates safety nets for people in ways government and even private agencies cannot. We all have close friends and family...

Pope Francis needs distributism, argues Arthur W. Hunt III in the latest issue of The American Conservative. Hunt says that Americans and popes alike can embrace a humane alternative to modern capitalism: In the midst of their scramble to claim the new Pope, many on the left missed what the Pontiff said was a nonsolution. The problems of the poor, he said, could not be solved by a “simple welfare mentality.” Well, by what then? The document is clear: “a...

Mitchell Baker, executive chair of Mozilla, announced on pany’s blog that Brendan Eich, former Mozilla CEO has stepped down “for Mozilla and munity.” His sin: contributing $1000 in 2008 in support of California’s Prop 8, which upheld traditional marriage. Now, Mozilla is pany that takes great pride in their – ahem – tolerance and open-mindedness. Really. Mozilla believes both in equality and freedom of speech. Equality is necessary for meaningful speech. And you need free speech to fight for equality....

In a fascinating essay in Mosaic, Charles Murray examines the spirit of innovation in America. He asks, As against pivotal moments in the story of human plishment, does today’s America, for instance, look more like Britain blooming at the end of the 18th century or like France fading at the end of the 19th century? If the latter, are there idiosyncratic features of the American situation that can override what seem to be longer-run tendencies? The author of Human plishment:...

The following es from “Theology That Works,” a 60-page manifesto on discipleship and economic work written by Greg Forster and published by the Oikonomia Network. Given our tendency to veer too far in either direction (stewardship or economics), and to confine our Christian duties to this or that sphere of life, the diagram is particularly helpful in demonstrating the overall interconnectedness of things. As Forster explains: In most churches today, stewardship only means giving and volunteering at church. But in...

Acton’s Director of International Outreach, Todd Huizinga, recently discussed the situation in Ukraine with WGVU’s Patrick Center and Calvin College’s assistant professors of political science, Becca McBride. For West Michigan residents, the interview will be airing tonight at 8:30 PM on the WGVU Life Channel and then again Sunday morning at 10:30 AM on WGVU-HD. For some background on what’s been going on Ukraine, see the panel discussion, ‘Ukraine – The Last Frontier of the Cold War’. ...

During the 20th century, the option for the poor or the preferential option for the poor was articulated as one of the basic principles of Catholic social teaching. For example, in Octogesima Adveniens (1971), Pope Paul VI writes: In teaching us charity, the Gospel instructs us in the preferential respect due to the poor and the special situation they have in society: the most fortunate should renounce some of their rights so as to place their goods generously at the...