War for Poverty Bryan Caplan, EconLib When a country is mired in poverty, violent revolution is the most emotionally appealing remedy. Economic Nationalism Is a Philosophy of War Ludwig von Mises, Mises Wire It is certainly true that our age …
The magic of the washing machine
What was the greatest invention of the industrial revolution? The late great Hans Rosling makes the case for the washing machine. Rosling explains how the productivity gains of the washing machine (and similar labor-saving devices) lead to increases in education …
PowerLinks 08.28.19
Bishops welcome proposed rule to protect rights of religious employers Catholic News Service The chairmen of three U.S. bishops’ committees Aug. 21 welcomed a proposed rule from the U.S. Department of Labor aimed at clarifying religious protections that may be …
The reason America’s poor are richer than most Europeans
The U.S. has diverged from the OECD approach to economic and energy issues that critics called this weekend’s G7 Summit the “G6-plus-one.” However, a new study shows America’s less regulated, less regimented economy has generated such abundance that the poorest …
Missionary malpractice in Uganda? A reflection on ‘good intentions’
In the routine stories of humanitarian activism gone wrong, we find ready reminders of the limits of good intentions. In each case—whether among governments or non-profits and religious institutions—we see how a heartfelt motivation to “do good” can easily serve …
A “one-stop shop” for natural law theory
Over at the University Bookman, W. Bradford Littlejohn reviews Niels Hemmingsen’s On the Law of Nature: A Demonstrative Method, recently published by CLP Academic. Littlejohn describes this surprising sixteenth century treatise as “a concise one-stop shop summary of Aristotelian-Thomistic epistemology, …
Edmund Burke believed in trade liberalization
Whenever the conservative movement loses its way, says Samuel Gregg in an article for Law & Liberty, it’s only a matter of time before some turn for guidance to the figure most associated with modern Anglo-American conservatism’s emergence—Edmund Burke. Continue …
PowerLinks 08.27.19
God or Government: What an Economy of “Nones” May Mean for Our Future Kelly Hanlon, Public Discourse G.K. Chesterton may have summed up our current situation best: men who stop believing in God do not believe in nothing, but believe …
Why hasn’t Canada kept its UN peacekeeping promises?
Walter Dorn, Canada’s leading expert on UN peacekeeping recently examined Canada’s much-vaunted return to UN-led “blue helmet” operations: …as the Trudeau government nears the end of its term, it is fair to ask if it has kept its previous election …
PowerLinks 08.26.19
A Christian’s Perspective on Economic Downturn Greg Forster, Crossway We live in an age of economic anxiety,1 and it’s only going to get more disrupted. Why American Democracy Is Worth Defending Alexander Salter, The Imaginative Conservative What is American democracy, …
Italy’s usual political turmoil
I appeared on EWTN News Nightly yesterday to talk about the collapse of the Italian government. Such turmoil is nothing new in Italy. Discontent with the political class is the main reason there was a populist coalition government in the …
A Christian psychology, pedagogy, and anthropology
At the behest of one of the editors, we’ve included an appendix in the new volume in the Abraham Kuyper Collected Works in Public Theology series, On Education, and called it “Lemkes’ Wish.” Here’s the background: Hubertus Johannes Lemkes (1828–97) …
