This is probably not the best move for a state that has been among the worst in the nation in terms of unemployment: “Lawmakers in the Michigan House of Representatives are preparing to vote on a proposed hike in the minimum wage to nearly $7 an hour.” The state Senate passed the measure late last week, so the House’s agreement would put the matter into the hands of Gov. Granholm. According to the Office of Labor Market Information, Michigan’s unemployment...

Citing a recent OECD report, the EUObserver says that European schools are falling behind their counterparts in the US and Asia. The main reason: a governmental obsession with equality that prevents investment and innovation in education, especially at the university level. “The US outspends Europe on tertiary level education by more than 50% per student, and much of that difference is due to larger US contributions from tuition-paying students and the private sector,” noted the OECD paper. Here’s how the...

According to The Church Report, a new resource has been released which offers churches guidelines for keeping their activities and functions within the letter of the law. As non-profit organizations, churches are held to the same standard as registered charities and cannot engage in certain forms of public speech. A report by The Rutherford Institute, “The Rights of Churches and Political Involvement” (PDF), examines in detail what the restrictions are for churches. There are two main areas: “first, no substantial...

Maximilian Pakaluk, associate editor at NRO, examines a recent panel discussion given by the New York Historical Society, which included Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, Akhil Reed Amar, Southmayd Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University, and Benno C. Schmidt Jr., chairman of the Edison Schools and former dean of Columbia Law School. The discussion was entitled “We the People: Active Liberty and the American Constitution.” Pakaluk observes, “The three speakers, but especially Schmidt and Breyer, agreed that...

A snippet from the ing Religion & Liberty: It is true that democracy is the best of the political systems, in that it guarantees, through universal suffrage, a peaceful changeover of power. But democracy and its instrument, majority rule, is not a method to investigate the truth. –Rafael Termes The blessings and responsibilities of a peaceful political system: something for a free people to remember on this noteworthy day in March. ...

Last Wednesday, I was privileged to attend the Samaritan Awards Gala in Washington, D.C. I have to say up front that Acton’s Effective Compassion events are probably the most enjoyable for me to attend because invariably es into contact with a group of very special, very dedicated people who pletely devoted to what our society would term “lost causes,” and having great success. While there were a number of award-winning programs at the Gala this year, I’d like to take...

Touting the success of his faith-based initiative last week, President Bush noted that faith-based charities received more than $2 billion last year from the federal government. But even as Bush announced that the Department of Homeland Security would be the 11th agency to establish an office for the faith-based initiative, some groups are finding the money to be a mixed blessing. An example is The Silver Ring Thing (SRT), which following a settlement between the ACLU and the Department of...

Go here for Acton’s new video, “Solutions,” which offers a real starting place for all of us who want to do something about poverty and hunger. ...

Henry Stob, the longtime professor of philosophical and moral theology at Calvin Theological Seminary, authored pendium of articles on various aspects of theological ethics in his 1978 book titled, Ethical Reflections: Essays on Moral Themes (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans). The book is now out of print, but I ran across an excellent section that excellently captures the intent of the work of the Acton Institute. In Chapter 2, “Theological Foundations for Christian Ethics,” he writes: Because man does in fact have...

A recent NBER working paper, “The Effects of Tort Reform on Medical Malpractice Insurers’ Ultimate Losses,” argues that “The long run effects of reforms are greater than insurers’ expected effects, as five year developed losses and ten year developed losses are below the initially reported incurred losses for those years following reform measures.” A number of the specific changes in the history of tort law are discussed in Ronald Rychlak’s Trial by Fury: Restoring the Common Good in Tort Litigation,...

William Easterly, professor of Economics at NYU, has written a new book challenging the prevailing development orthodoxy of increased aid and the “big push” bat poverty in the Third World. The White Man’s Burden: Why The West’s efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good, published by Penguin is to be released on March 20th. I have only read a short bit of it so far, but what I have seen is refreshing. He...

This is an article worth reading by Steven Waldman in the Washington Monthly, “The Framers and the Faithful: How modern evangelicals are ignoring their own history.” The article examines the attitudes of many 18th century evangelicals toward government, and specifically with respect to a number of the founding fathers, including Jefferson, Madison, and Patrick Henry. While the provacative subtitle may be true, it shouldn’t really be all that surprising. After all, Waldman does a good job throughout noting that “each...