Everyone in the global fight for liberty has some item that cultivated his intellectual palate. For Chinese dissident Jimmy Lai, it was a candy bar. As an eight-year-old boy, he worked as a baggage carrier in a railway station in his native mainland China. After he carried the bag of a visitor from Hong Kong, the man gave the future billionaire a piece of chocolate. “It was amazing,” he says. Eating that delectable sweet made him believe “Hong Kong must...

Economists and ethicists agree: A worker should be evaluated by the job he does, not his political views. But the more politicized life es, the greater the chance petent employee will lose his or her job because of his private political views. Politicians like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez propose blacklisting their political foes, potentially including tens of millions of people, over politics. In an Orwellian twist of fate, the best employees may be fired precisely because they perform their job to the...

This year, some families have little reason to give thanks, because political arguments have turned the holiday dinner table into a war zone. Friends, even relatives have cut ties with people who don’t share their political perspectives. Too often, flaring tempers quench the spirit of joy and brotherhood that should mark family gatherings. The right way to respond isn’t to refuse to discuss politics and religion. It’s to talk about politics in a way that is worthy of Christians. These...

Thanksgiving in 2020 seems to be an oxymoron. What good can we celebrate in the year that witnessed an ongoing global health pandemic, an artificial economic crisis, and the largest federal budget deficit in U.S. history? In Thanksgiving, as in life, it helps to step back from the rush of headlines and social media alerts to take stock of the abiding and eternal blessings of everyday life. This is in no way to minimize the disastrous year of 2020. The...

In the information age, Americans have tended to elevate certain jobs and careers over others, leading to a general resistance to “blue collar” work and an over-glorification of desk jobs, start-ups, and “creative spaces.” Reinforced by constant cultural calls to “follow our passions” and pursue four-year college degrees, workers have e narrowly focused on a shrinking set of job prospects in sectors like technology, finance, marketing, and activism. Such attitudes have led to an ever-widening skills gap in the trades...

As an estimated 50 million Americans plan to travel for Thanksgiving holiday celebrations, politicians across the U.S. and Europe have introduced legislation to increase the gasoline tax. Legislators should listen to an outspoken foe of those taxes: Sen. Bernie Sanders. Gasoline tax revenues, which fell consistently before the COVID-19 pandemic, have gone into a free fall under government-mandated lockdowns. In the U.S., the gasoline tax funds the Highway Trust Fund, which pays for improvements to roads and bridges. But the...

Talking politics around the turkey can turn November 26th from a joyful celebration to a daunting day. While the laughing family, gleaming silverware, or perfectly cooked turkey of Norman Rockwell’s Freedom from Want painting is our ideal, reality sometimes looks very different. Advice for how to navigate the day varies from “fight with your family” to tips on how to avoid politics altogether. As I have noted before, part of the difficulty to navigating conversation is that politics has invaded...

The 2020 election pitted a violent leftist movement against a crass, self-centered incumbent who uses the levers of power to benefit himself. The campaign hardly proved inspiring. It also ended up with results that confounded the professional political class and distressed tens of millions of Americans. Days after voters cast their ballots, the presidential race remained undecided, and a nasty legal and PR battle continues to play out. For Catholics and other Christians, the temptation to e agitated, concerned, and...

Victimhood is central to popular analyses of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the scramble for victimhood was central to our political discourse prior to 2020, government bailouts have exacerbated this narrative. Individuals must pete to create the pelling story in order to receive aid. Among those fighting for the spotlight are public school teachers, female university faculty, and the very sympathetic airline executives. Part of the problem is that natural safety networks such as family and the church...

When President Donald Trump fell ill with COVID-19, there was absolutely no contemplation of moving America’s head of state to another country to receive healthcare services. This might be surprising, considering the oft-quoted World Health Organization ranking of our healthcare system at 37th globally. Wouldn’t we want our president to be treated in the country with the very best healthcare? The problem, of course, is that parisons in healthcare often mislead. This was true before the pandemic, but it has...