In his State of the Union address this year, president Trump warned of the dangers of socialism. But is there any substance to that worry? Rep. Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), a self-declared socialist, has made headlines with her Green New Deal proposal. And more recently, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who identifies as a democratic socialist, announced he will again be running for the democratic nomination for president. So perhaps we shouldn’t write off the president’s rhetoric as just a call back to...

Polarizing figures throughout history – from doomsday cults to political extremists – have advised their followers not to have children. mentators and a groundbreaking new study show that this, when mixed with government pressure, has led countless mothers to lifelong remorse and deprived nations of a better standard of living. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined this chorus over the weekend when she asked, given an impending climate apocalypse, “Is it OK to still have children?” The carbon footprint of children may...

When democratic socialists were asked what they would build in place of Amazon’s HQ2 now that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had chased it out of Queens, the response was “a guillotine.” That reply, contained in an insightful and in-depth portrait of young socialists in New York magazine, perfectly illustrates the difference between the worldview of secular collectivists and those who believe in the free market. One may take from Simon van Zuylen-Wood’s thorough essay that today’s socialism is built on the three-legged...

Are conservatives abandoning the free-market movement? Has the rise of populism changed the axis of American politics by convincing the political right to embrace neo-mercantilism? These are questions that many are asking, and if you want to understand where the culture is heading, it is best to start here. Exit polls during the presidential election of 2016 showed that Donald Trump’s victory in the Rust Belt pointed to a political realignment in the United States. Suspicious of free-market ideas, politically...

On Thursday, the Acton Institute will be hosting an Evening in Chicago with P. J. O’Rourke. In honor of the event, here are six quotes on government and politicians by the best-selling author and beloved political satirist: On politicians: “A politician is anyone who asks individuals to surrender part of their liberty—their power and privilege—to State, Masses, Mankind, Planet Earth, or whatever. This state, those masses, that mankind, and the planet will then be run by . . . politicians.”...

Predictions about the future have a checkered past. But Michael Munger’s recent book “Tomorrow 3.0: Transaction Costs and the Sharing Economy,” born out a few of his many appearances on the popular podcast EconTalk, at least makes its prognostications based on current trends and reasoned economic principles. Munger predicts what he dubs the Middleman/Sharing Revolution, in which software and digital tools increasingly lower transaction costs and make it more profitable to share or rent “stuff” than to own it. In...

Would we toss coins at Jesus lying in the street gutter? And how would we, likewise, hold ourselves accountable when serving a noble or princely figure? That is who the poor are and whom we discover in prayer as we discern best how to serve them. We then treat them literally like royalty, as they are“permeated by the presence of Jesus”, Francis says. Read More… In a private audience Francis had yesterday withSt. Peter’s Circle, a social action group serving...

In recent years, we’ve seen the emergence of new social crises across America’s middle and working classes, from the opioid epidemicto declines in marriage and family stability to the dilution of social capital. In response, many have been quick to point their fingers at the economic disruption caused by trade and technology. Yet according to Tim Carney, author of the new book, Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse, the data tell a different story about the transformative...

Taking inspiration from a recent CNN town hall which featured Bernie Sanders, Alejandro Chafuen, Acton’s Managing Director, International, offers some pointers inForbes on how to argue against socialism. Such arguments can’t be reduced to slogans or simple black-and-white characterizations, and we should be wary of underestimating our opponents or demonizing their motives. Political campaigns, especially nowadays, are not conducive to intellectual arguments, but it is part of our task to elevate the level of public debate. I recently watched a...

Reading Dylan Pahman’s recent piece, Don’t write off young ‘socialists’, got me thinking about talking and listening. We all talk and listen, with varying degrees of success, every day. Most of the time I do each well enough to muddle through learning something from others while imparting some sliver of wisdom in between boisterous declarations of my opinions and preferences. It’s a work in progress but a vitally important one in that, “A wise man will hear, and will increase...