If, like me, you spend a lot of time online—especially on social media—or watching the news you probably have a constant, low-level sense of anxiety. Always focusing on the problems in the world can cause us to feel a perpetual sense of unease. But while we may try to blame this feeling on the state of the world, deep down we know there must be something more to it. We have a sense that something is truly wrong, as if...

“Christian leaders are often guilty of ‘souping up, mon good,” says Noah Gould in this week’s Acton Commentary. “Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, is no exception. In his latest book, Reimagining Britain: Foundations for Hope, Welby sets out to create a new social and political vision for the United Kingdom based on mon good.” The most precise definition Welby offers is that mon good “looks not to averages but to the totality of flourishing in a group.” He uses the...

Twenty years ago on The Simpsons, Helen Lovejoy gave us one of the most ubiquitous rallying cries in politics: Homer: Mr. Mayor, I hate to break it to you, but this town is infested by bears. Lovejoy: Think of the children! [The mayor sets up a Bear Patrol, which costs tax money. One week later, the citizens have a plaint.] Homer: Down with taxes! Down with taxes! Lovejoy: Won’t somebody please think of the children? The attempt to gain support...

Last week, Kelley Rose told the national media why she helped found a chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America: Jesus made her do it. Fittingly, she told her story at taxpayer expense. ments came as part of a glowing profile of the DSA that National Public Radio posted on July 26 mistitled, “What You Need to Know About the Democratic Socialists of America.” Rose, a 36-year-oldwho co-founded the DSA’s North Central West Virginia chapter, told NPR: “I might be...

Over at Arc Digital today I take a look at Adam Smith’s moral teachings, particularly in light mercial society and Christian theology. This essay serves as a brief introduction to one of the Moral Markets projects I am working on, as well as a teaser for further exploration of the relationship between Christianity and classical political economy. As A.M.C. Waterman describes the developments following the publication of Smith’s Wealth of Nations (WN), “Whether Smith actually intended WN to be read...

The man who oversees the UK’s foreign aid budget says that public concerns about fraud, abuse, and futility associated with international development programs are “valid.” And he plans to fight those perceptions by launching an evangelistic campaign on behalf of the government. Matthew Rycroft, permanent secretary for the Department for International Development (DfID), told a civil service website that foreign aid skeptics raise two chief objections: Either they believe that “the problems are too big” to fix or that “the...

If you’re a young person in America, you’ve undoubtedly been bombarded by calls to“follow your passion,” “pursue your dreams,” or “do what you love and love what you do.” But do these sugary mantras truly represent the path to vocational clarity, economic abundance, personal fulfillment, and human flourishing? Not according to a new study by researchers from Stanford University and Yale-NUS College, which found that “following your passion” is likely to lead to overly limited pursuits, inflated expectations (career, economic,...

President Trump is known for public unveiling his inner thoughts on Twitter. But one of the most ments he’s ever made came recently in a private discussion with lawmakers about trade policy. According to Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., when senators visited the White Housethey told the president what farmers want is access to markets, not a payment from government. To this Trump replied, “I’m surprised, I’ve never heard of anybody who didn’t want a payment from government.” Unfortunately, the president...

Throughout our debates about global poverty and economic inequality, critics of capitalism routinely raise the point that half of the world’s population live on less than $2 per day, while wealth among the other half continues to “concentrate.” The underlying assumption is clear: For so many to be making so little, someone (somewhere) must surely be takingmuch. Yet given that such a statistic actually represents a high-water mark in human historyfor all people — rich and poor alike — we’d...

On Wednesday afternoon, President Donald Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker announced a new transatlantic plan to “make our planet a better, more secure, and more prosperous place” by lowering tariffs, trade barriers, and regulations between the U.S. and the EU. Here’s what you need to know. What did the two leaders announce? The U.S. and EU signed a joint statement of intention to pursue four goals: “First of all, to work together toward zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers,...