The Choice of Hercules between Virtue and PleasureEli Horowitz over at Rust Belt Philosophy takes up my post from earlier this week, “The Christ Child and a Culture of Birth.” For the moment we can leave aside the accusations of racism latent in my view, as my demographic concerns are related to replacement levels and not to the question of majority/minority demographic shifts. I do want to address one claim from Horowitz about the nature of cultural privilege, though. His...

Over at AEIdeas, James Pethokoukis challenges our attitudes about work and leisure by drawing a helpful contrast between economists John Maynard Keynes and Deirdre McCloskey. First, he points to “Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren,” in which Keynes frames our economic pursuits as a means to a leisurely end: Thus for the first time since his creation man will be faced with his real, his permanent problem-how to use his freedom from pressing economic cares, how to occupy the leisure, which...

An article in the Christmas issue of The Spectator make a surprising and bold claim: It may not feel like it, but 2012 has been the greatest year in the history of the world. That sounds like an extravagant claim, but it is borne out by evidence. Never has there been less hunger, less disease or more prosperity. The West remains in the economic doldrums, but most developing countries are charging ahead, and people are being lifted out of poverty...

Every Wednesday we publish the Acton Commentary,a weekly article that covers topics related to Acton’s mission. As es to a close I thought it would be worth highlighting the mentaries that have been produced by Acton Institute staffers over the past year. The following list includes articles published in 2012 by Dr. Anthony B. Bradley, a research fellow at the Acton Institute.: January 25, 2012 Despite Economic and Social Ills, Blacks Give Obama a Pass February 29, 2012 Corn Subsidies...

Every Wednesday we publish the Acton Commentary,a weekly article that covers topics related to Acton’s mission. As es to a close I thought it would be worth highlighting the mentaries that have been produced by Acton Institute staffers over the past year. The following list includes articles published in 2012 by Dr. Jordan J. Ballor, Acton research fellow and executive editor of the Journal of Markets & Morality: January 11, 2012 Ministers of Common Grace February 15, 2012 Corrupted Capitalism...

Every Wednesday we publish the Acton Commentary,a weekly article that covers topics related to Acton’s mission. As es to a close I thought it would be worth highlighting the mentaries that have been produced by Acton Institute staffers over the past year. The following list includes articles published in 2012 by Dr. Samuel Gregg, director of research at the Acton Institute: January 18, 2012 The Problem with Compassionate Conservatism March 07, 2012 The American Left’s European Nightmare March 14, 2012...

Every Wednesday we publish the Acton Commentary, a weekly article that covers topics related to Acton’s mission. As es to a close I thought it would be worth highlighting the mentaries that have been produced by Acton Institute staffers over the past year. The following list includes articles published in 2012 by Rev. Robert A. Sirico, co-founder and president of the Acton Institute: July 04, 2012 Creative Destruction and the Pruning Shears September 19, 2012 The Collapse of Europe’s Welfare...

The video below of a second grade teacher in Providence, RI reading his letter of resignation has recently gone semi-viral with over 200,000 views on YouTube. What I would like to offer here is an Orthodox Christian critique of the anthropological assumptions that separate this teacher from the “edu-crats,” as he terms them, who in his district so strongly championed standardized testing-oriented education at the exclusion of all other methods and aims. In the Orthodox Christian tradition, there is an...

The National Catholic Register and Associated Press are reporting that Justice Sonia Sotomayor has denied Hobby Lobby (and a pany, Mardel, Inc.) its request to opt out of the HHS mandate to provide abortifacients as health care to employees. Justice Sotomayor’s decision stated that Hobby Lobby did not meet the legal standard for preventing them plying with the government mandate. However, David Green, CEO and owner of Hobby Lobby disagrees, saying the lawsuit violates his family’s faith. The Becket Fund...

Matt Mitchell at Neighborhood Effects offers an interesting perspective regarding the fiscal cliff. As we hurriedly approach the edge, Mitchell’s insights ought not to be ignored, whatever the e of today’s last minute meeting at the White House. Evoking the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come from Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, he writes, At the risk of mixing metaphors, we should think of the fiscal cliff as the Ghost of the Fiscal Future. It is a bleak lesson in...