A new report shows the European Parliament is spending nearly €40 million($45 million U.S.) a year to pay for offices that may not even exist. Further, the body does not require any documentation of how Members of European Parliament (MEPs) spend the funds entrusted to them. The report raises the question:Is it possible to concentrate money and power without luring theirstewards into corruption? A new articleinReligion & Liberty Transatlantic explores the intersection of power, temptation, and responsible stewardship raised by...

Throughout our political discourse, we continue to hear critiques of free trade from left and right, each of them ultimately aiming to prod us closer toan abstract notion of so-called “fair” or “fairer” trade. Evenwhen the value of free trade is recognized, such admissions tend to be quickly panied by fuzzy, convoluted qualifiers, such as “free trade must also be fair.” It’s a refrain that sounds agreeable enough on the surface, yet it bears an underlying ambivalence toward freedom and...

We’re back with a fresh edition of Radio Free Acton! This week, we talk with Acton’s Director of Research Samuel Gregg for some perspective on the surprising e of the June 8 snap parliamentary elections in Great Britain, and what the resurgence of Labour and the loss of a conservative majority mean for Prime Minister Theresa May and the ing Brexit negotiations with the EU. We’re also excited to introduce a new feature on Radio Free Acton:Upstream with Bruce Edward...

James Hodgkinson opened fire on a group of congressmen after ascertaining they were Republicans. He wounded several people and was killed himself by Capitol police, who were present to protect House Whip Steve Scalise. Hodgkinson was an ardent Bernie Sanders supporter and had a social media history indicated severe disdain of President Trump. The first thing to be said is that some people simply e unbalanced. There are problems of mental illness, drug imbalances, traumatic events and other catalysts for...

Humanity knows just two theoretical forms of organizing public interactions, says Alex Tokarev. All real socio-economic systems that have evolved through the centuries are a mix of the two opposite ideological concepts: One of the systems uses political coercion. The other is based on voluntary cooperation. One depends on a central plan. The other relies on individual initiative. One treats citizens as children who need motherly care from the cradle to the grave. The other recognizes people as autonomous creatures...

Recently the state and fate of the European Union have e topics of world-wide debate. The UK’s referendum vote to leave the EU last summer andthe recent snap election, which called that vote into question, have ignited discussion about whether supranational organizations like the EU are even a good idea. In anarticle for the Library of Liberty and Law, Samuel Gregg, research director at the Acton Institute, discussed the thought of Pierre Manent. Manent is a prominent French political philosopher...

Note: This is the post #21 in a weekly series of explanatory posts on the officials and agencies included in the President’s Cabinet. See the series introductionhere. Cabinet position:U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Department: U.S. Mission to the United Nations (USUN) at the State Department Current Ambassador:Nikki R. Haley Department Mission:“The U.S. Mission to the United Nations (USUN) serves as the United States’ delegation to the United Nations. USUN is responsible for carrying out the nation’s participation in...

“When people work together,” says Dylan Pahman in this week’s Acton Commentary, “they are able to multiply the fruits of their labors far beyond what they could each do alone.” “Work,” wrote the Reformed theologian Lester DeKoster, “is the form in which we make ourselves useful to others.” I like this definition because it puts things in a realistic, everyday perspective. Certainly, people can work just because they want a paycheck to spend on themselves alone. That might be greedy,...

The newly opened House of European History has a blind spot: It entirely omits the role that religion played in European history. According to a new essay from Arnold Huijgen at Religion & Liberty Transatlantic, when es to religion, the$61 million museum in Brussels, built by the European Parliament, is “an empty House.” Instead, the EU displaces the Divinein its exhibits. Walking through the structure the day it opened, he observed: [I]t is as if religion does not exist. In...

A new paper released this week by a pair of political scientists claims, as The New York Times reports, that, “pastors are even more politically divided than the congregants in their denomination.” As the abstract of the paper states: Pastors are important civic leaders within their churches munities. Several studies have demonstrated that the cues pastors send from the pulpit affect congregants’ political attitudes. However, we know little about pastors’ own political worldviews, which will shape the content and ideology...