“The mundane progress driven by ordinary economic and social processes in a free society es dramatic only when its track record is viewed in retrospect over a span of years.” –Thomas Sowell In a recent edition of mon Knowledge, economist Thomas Sowell discusses his latest book, Wealth, Poverty, and Politics, which provides prehensive argument for the origins of prosperity. “There’s no explanation needed for poverty. The species began in poverty,” Sowell says. “So what you really need to know is...

Sen. Lindsey Graham, Republican from South Carolina, wants to change the rules of one of the biggest crony capitalist organizations in Washington. He wants to make it easier for the Export Import Bank to dish out large amounts of corporate welfare panies such as Boeing, which already brings in revenues upward of $95 billion per year. USA Today reported in a recent article that “Graham, as chairman of the Senate Appropriations mittee that funds foreign operations, has added a provision...

The nation of Spain is prosecuting 37 people – including former officials in the ruling center-Right party – for steering government contracts to their politically connected friends. It will not help the defensethat thesuspects gave themselves audacious, Godfather-inspired nicknames like Don Vito and “The Little Meatball.” While a disturbing example in itself, a series of studies show that corruption is ing a growing threat in the EU – and the larger the government, the greater the level of perfidy. The...

What is the future of religious liberty?Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) type laws, says Richard Garnett, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame. In any society where there is (a) religious and moral diversity and (b) an active, regulatory welfare state, there will — necessarily — be conflicts and tensions between (i) duly enacted, majority-supported, generally applicable laws and (ii) some citizens’ religious beliefs and exercise. What Justice Jackson called “the uniformity of the graveyard” is not an...

Rather than speaking about the risk of not doing, avoiding or failing at something in order to succeed, the pope coaxed the business executives to consider risking doing something positive for mon good – as if to encourage them to live out their faith proactively, through bold intentional free choices, despite the strong countercurrents of a materialistic, godless and self-serving secular society. Read More… Yesterday, Pope Francis hosted a private audience in his Apostolic Palace for a few hundred international...

Today at Mere Orthodoxy, I have an essay building on some of myrecentposts here exploring a healthy Christian response to plex results (other than “Trump won; Clinton lost”) of the 2016 presidential election. In particular, I focus on how to be true to the exhortation of St. Paul: “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15). I write, Writing to early Christians in Rome, St. Paul the Apostle offered a succinct summary of the Christian...

President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela MerkelPresident Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel held their last joint press conference as heads of state on Thursday, pressing national leaders – in President Obama’s words – “not to take for granted the importance of the transatlantic alliance.” And they grounded that longstanding partnership on their conception of the bedrock principles that they believe unite North America and the EU. mitment of the United States to Europe is enduring and it’s...

“The early church was socialist.” Talk about economics and the church and you’ll eventually hear a Christian make that claim. The idea that the early chapters of the Acts of the Apostles supports the idea that Christians should be socialists is an oft-repeated as if it were both obvious and true. But is it? Art Lindsley explains why those passages do not pertain to socialism: Does Acts 2-5 mand socialism? A quick reading of these four chapters might make it...

According to mon political narrative prior to the 2016 elections, progressivism has been ascendent and conservatism has been on an inevitable decline in America in significant part due to demographic changes. Among those changes is the growth of the Latino population, which is assumed to be a natural constituency for progressive politics. In the wake of the election, this may be one among many narratives that need to be re-thought. Evangelicals are one of the fastest growing segments in munities,...

When you hear reports on the unemployment rate it’s usually a single number. For example, in October that number was 4.9 percent. But that single number is the national average, and can conceal a wide range at the state and local level. For instance, in September South Dakota and New Hampshire had the lowest rates in the country—2.9 percent—while six states (Nevada, Mississippi, West Virginia, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Alaska) all had rates that were twice that number. Not surprisingly,...