In a commencement speech at Kenton College, American writer David Foster Wallace started with an anecdote, “There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, ‘Morning, boys. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
The two lives of Steve McQueen
Someone once said of Steve McQueen (1930–80) that his range as an actor was deep but not very broad. All right, I admit it—I said it in my 2001 biography of the all-American star who still looms over Hollywood like a sort of male equivalent of the Statue of Liberty, more than 40 years after his untimely death. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
Finding wisdom in Barack Obama fanfiction
This diatribe was inspired by the most amusing book I’ve ever encountered. While perusing the wares of a D.C. bookstore, I came across a tome entitled Hope Never Dies by New York Times bestselling author Andrew Shaffer, released in 2018. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
The Sandman is a lesson in natural law
On August 5, The Sandman dropped on Netflix. For Neil Gaiman’s existing fanbase, this show was the fulfillment of decades of longing to see a beloved story brought to life. Rumors have circulated over the years that Gaiman’s 75-issue comic series (variously collected in 10 graphic novels and the three-volume Absolute Sandman) would come to the screen, but such projects never materialized. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
Is ‘diversity’ the new religion of American universities?
As American universities worked tirelessly over the past couple of centuries to purge religion from institutional education, their success left a conceptual void. Without religion, the western university was in need of some of sort of metanarrative or ontological justification for its existence. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
Father Stu shows us strength in weakness
This past spring, movie theatres saw the premier of Father Stu, a Sony Pictures film starring Mark Wahlberg as Father Stu and co-starring Mel Gibson as his father. The film is based on the true story of Stuart Long, an amateur boxer from Montana who found God after a near-death experience and eventually became a priest. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
The union movement was anti-black from the beginning
The process of industrialization upended traditional ways of life that undoubtedly caused fear and doubt. It’s no surprise that some workers destroyed machinery in fear of lost work (the Luddites) or that workers banded together to negotiate for wages (the unions). Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
Expanding the welfare state in Africa is a threat, not a help
While bilateral and multilateral talks are hitting impasses around much of the globe, “Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want” is a continental agreement that breaks the mold. For all its lofty ambitions, this blueprint aiming at “transforming Africa into the global powerhouse of the future” is paradoxically both a celebration of and a threat to the family. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
Betsy DeVos wants to shut down the Department of Education
Betsy DeVos thinks the Department of Education “should not exist.” She’s not the first secretary of education we’ve had who understood her central purpose to be the dissolution of the agency of which she was in charge (until she resigned on January 7, 2021). Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
Regulations worsened the baby formula shortage
The world is an economics classroom if we allow ourselves to learn from it. Every day we’re bombarded with puzzles that the economic way of thinking can help solve. One of the more recent examples of this is the infant-formula shortagethat plagued an industry already confounded by pandemic-related supply chain issues. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
A Reply to David Brooks: Don’t apologize for capitalism
In recent weeks, the New York Times has been running opinion pieces in which various columnists expound on a topic about which they have changed their views. On July 21 it was David Brooks’ turn to lay out his mea culpa. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
What’s the point of working anymore?
Is there any value to work in today’s world? This is a question that many in Generation Z find themselves asking. I started working at a very young age. By 12 years old, I already had two part-time jobs plus a side business of my own. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
